Onekama Volleyball Feb. 9, 2006

Lakers rally to beat Portagers, 3-2
Greg Gielczyk

ONEKAMA — Communication seemed to be Onekama’s biggest problem against Bear Lake in the first two games of Thursday night’s Western Michigan D League girls volleyball match. The Lakers talked much better in the third game, and carried it through for a 3-2 win. Bear Lake moved its record to 6-4 overall, and 2-3 in the league, where the Lakers are tied with Brethren. Five-game marathons are becoming somewhat of a habit with the Portagers. In fact, it’s about all they’ve played lately. Thursday night’s match was the third one in a row, and it was obvious after the first two games that the Portagers were starting to feel a little fatigue setting in.

Bear Lake needed a spark, though, after falling behind 0-2 ... and got it from Heather Timmons, who set at 100 percent on the evening. She had 15 assists. With her getting the ball up to the attackers, Bear Lake enjoyed a decent night at the net after its slow start, and began to locate the open spots in Onekama’s defense. Onekama bottled up the Lakers’ attack throughout the first two games, winning the opener by a narrow 25-22 margin. The Portagers turned around and took the second game, 25-20. But, with the sweep within their reach, the Portagers couldn’t grab it. Instead, it was the Lakers who grabbed the momentum.

“We had some real communication problems in the first couple of games,” Bear Lake coach Amy Bowman said. “We couldn’t seem to talk loud enough for everyone hear what was going on. “It took us some time to get it together. We still didn’t play up to our fullest potential, but the last few games were much better.”

The Portagers had a few service errors that cut off any chance of their getting any runs going, and the Lakers capitalized on their opportunities, winning the third game by a 25-15 score. Momentum had swung to the Lakers, and they kept it going, winning the next two games to bring it home, 25-21 and 15-13. Shannon Eddy led the Lakers with 12 points with two aces, Heather Timmons added 11 points with five aces, Tabitha Tribley had 10 points with one ace and Katilyn Nettler had six points with two aces. Nettler finished with 26 attacks and five kills for the Lakers. Eddy had 24 attacks with eight kills. Jackie Griffith contributed 21 attacks with three kills.

Stacey Keith powered the Portagers’ attack with 13 service points, 38 digs, three spikes and 19 sets. Amber Maidens contributed nine points, 14 passes, four spikes and six assists. Kelsey Acker added eight points, 24 passes, two spikes, one block and four assists. Alyssa Cole finished with six points, seven passes, nine spikes, one block and four assists. Veronica Maidens scored seven points, had 29 passes, six spikes and 30 sets. Ginny Ashworth added three points, nine digs, one block and 52 sets. Meghan Nesburg was the Portagers’ top spiker with 11, and also had 27 passes and three assists. Kayla Pasko had six passes and one spike. Stephanie Ashworth also scored three points, had eight passes, two spikes and three assists.

“Our serving really hurt us tonight,” Onekama coach Lanette Keith said.

Bear Lake won the junior varsity match, 25-10 and 25-17. Katie Dominguez had 13 points, and Ronnie Brown nine for the Lakers. The Lakers are 7-4.