Onaway bows out in regional finals

The end of the line for the 2008 Cardinal volleyball team came at the hands of a familiar foe in the regional finals. The Pellston Hornets stopped the record-setting Onaway Cards (34-11-5) at the Johannesburg-Lewiston regionals Thursday, November 13, before a rocking gymnasium packed with adoring fans from both sides.

A loud student cheering section from each school stood and yelled encouragement for their teams at each end of the bleachers as the girls battled on the floor. The familiar rivals traded blows on the court with Pellston winning the match in three games, 25-21, 25-18, 25-21. Coach Steven Watson had nothing but praise for the way his team played, saying they gave a great effort against the Hornets.

?I can?t ask the girls to hit much better than they did. They had a lot of good digs and they had a lot of lucky ones. Every good team has to have a lot of them to win. (Pellston?s) defense was very impressive. It seemed like we would get off a couple of crushing blows and they would come up with something and they w

ould pull it back. That?s what you have got to do when you are going to win,? Watson said. ?They have improved since the last time we saw them. There is a very fine line between us and them and they are on the other side of that line.?

Although the Cards attacked the net well, Pellston came up with dig after dig to keep rallies alive. ?They dug up a ton of our hits that other times have gone for kills. They got a piece of a lot of our attacks at the net. I wasn?t too pleased with our ability to block their outside hitter. In game one in particular, that was one of the things that cost us the game,? Watson said.

?It is a total team effort over there. Their offense is good, but when we are hitting real good and they are picking everything up, you are going to have to out-last them and that is hard to do.? Pellston goes on to the quarterfinal round at their own gymnasium Tuesday.