Cardinal volleyball team claims title at Rogers City tourney

The Onaway High School varsity volleyball team opened Ski Valley Conference play Tuesday against Central Lake, winning in its first home match of the season, 25-10, 25-16, and 25-18.

Mariah Ehrke had 10 kills, 11 digs, and four aces, Devin Bristley had 11 kills, five digs, and two aces, Lexi Szymoniak had four kills, five digs, and three aces, Sara Fullerton had three kills, 13 digs, and three aces, and Taylor Ehrke had six digs and 21 assists.

“This was a nice win, since it’s the first SVC match of the year,” said Cardinal coach Steve Watson. “Devin and Mariah were very efficient, combining for 21 kills with only five attack errors.

“I asked the girls to serve tough, and they did, getting 13 aces. But that came along with 11 service errors, which is a few too many.”

The OHS JV, which opened the season by advancing to bracket play in tournaments at home and at Inland Lakes, also defeated Central Lake in its home opener.

The Cardinals dropped the first game, 14-25, due to what coach Kristi Bristley called “home game jitters,” but came out strong in game two, winning 25-9, before winning the tie-breaking third game, 15-9.

Mikayla Counterman served 11 straight points in the latter and finished the night with nine aces to go with a kill. Elena Domke had five kills and two aces, while Tori March had five aces and five assists. The JV is 9-5-4 on the season.

Three days earlier, the varsity Cardinals won a tournament in Rogers City, going 5-0-1 on the day. The tourney was the second won by the Red Birds this year, following a championship at the Pellston Earlybird last month.

In pool play, the Cardinals defeated a Cheboygan squad they’d split a pair of matches with coming in (25-21, 25-13), before defeating Alcona (25-6, 25-13) and Joburg (25-15, 25-12) and splitting with Gaylord (25-17, 17-25).

That effort earned Onaway a top seed in bracket play. OHS defeated Alpena for the second time this year, 25-13 and 25-23, in the semis, before knocking off the host Hurons, 25-8 and 25-18, in the championship.

“We had a diverse offense, with four hitters tallyi

ng between 18 and 35 kills,” said Watson. “I was particularly pleased with our middle hitters (Fullerton and Szymoniak), who were very efficient.

Bristley had 35 kills, 51 digs, and 10 aces on the day. Mariah Ehrke had 32 kills, 56 digs, and nine aces, Szymoniak had 23 kills, 41 digs, and seven blocks, Fullerton had 18 kills and 29 digs, and Taylor Ehrke had 79 assists, 34 digs, and 14 aces.

The Cardinals will take a record of 17-4-1 into Saturday’s highly competitive tournament at Petoskey. Among the teams in the Cards’ pool are Leland (ranked third in Class D) and Class B Sault Ste. Marie.

Onaway returns to conference play Tuesday when it hosts Joburg.