LocalSportsJournal.com
REED CITY — Playing against competition you’re not familiar with is always a welcome challenge for any coach in looking ahead to post-season action, and Ludington’s girls volleyball team got that opportunity Saturday at the Reed City Invite.
The Orioles went 2-2 with one split on the day, opening with a win in pool play over Evart (25-20, 25-8), losing to Lake City (20-25, 26-27), splitting with Gaylord (25-14, 14-25) and defeating Petoskey (25-10, 27-26) before losing to Lake City again in the semifinals (12-25, 12-25).
“We played some good competition against teams we didn’t know much about,” said Orioles head coach Liz Holden. “The girls battled hard, but fell short against Lake City.
“Our blockers were on, our hitters were on and we were passing well in an intense battle with Petoskey and had an amazing game. But, we lost momentum going into the semifinals.
“We had our ups and downs throughout the day. We just need to work on having more ups than downs, and keeping mentally strong, even during a long day.”
Ashley McPike sparked the offense for the Orioles with 13 kills in the front row, and also had 11 blocks and 4 digs. Jordyn Anderson had the hot hand at the service line with 15 aces, while providing 50 assists to go with 9 kills, 8 blocks and 25 digs in a strong overall performance.
Mia Pung led the defense with 42 digs and also contributed 4 aces and 4 assists. Keelyn Laird recorded 6 service aces, was on when she rotated up to the front row with 20 kills as well as defensively hot with 36 digs and added 2 assists and 3 blocks.
Maddy Vaara had 35 kills, 5 aces, 26 digs and 6 blocks. Mia Voss finished with 4 kills, 4 blocks and 6 digs. Olivia Lynn contributed 2 kills, 4 blocks and 6 digs while Delaney Williams had 5 aces and 8 digs.
The Orioles are next scheduled to play Muskegon Reeths-Puffer at Muskegon in a non-conference match on Tuesday night starting at 5:30 p.m.
