Sports

Dowagiac spikers finish second

By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
Monday, September 8, 2008 10:55 AM EDT

The Dowagiac varsity volleyball team finished second at the Berrien Springs Invitational on Saturday.

The Chieftains went 8-0 in pool play as it defeated Michigan Lutheran (25-12, 25-16), River Valley (25-12, 25-20), Decatur (25-10, 25-23) and Bridgman (25-17, 25-6).

In the semifinals, Dowagiac knocked off Eau Claire 25-14 and 27-25.

The Chieftains were defeated in the finals by the host Lady Shamrocks 25-17 and 25-17.

"I am very proud of our girls today," Dowagiac coach Ryan Frontczak said. "We have really had to deal with adversity this year. We have not had our entire team in the line up all year for one reason or another. Today was the same. We ended up missing two starters by the end of the tourney.

"Our team really stepped up today. A great deal of our girls were forced into positions some have not played yet this year. But, they played well. Our team is only going to keep getting better as the year goes on," he added.

Emily Primley led the team in kills with 30, while she also had a team-high nine blocks and finished the tournament with four aces.

Tasia Diaz had 15 kills and four aces, while Alyssa Greenwood finished with four blocks and five aces.

Dowagiac also got four blocks from Andrea Bradshaw and four aces from Brittany Gnatz.

Danielle Taylor had 39 setting assists for the Chieftains.

Dowagiac will be back in action tonight as it hosts Buchanan in a non-conference match.

The junior varsity match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. The varsity match will follow the completion of that match at approximately 6.

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