Onekama Volleyball 2005-2006

ONEKAMA – Keeping the ball away from Manistee Catholic Central’s Ashley Bauman, an intimidating force up at the net because of her height alone, the Onekama Portagers did everything else right as well in rolling to a 3-0 non-conference girls volleyball victory Saturday afternoon.

The Portagers had their game clicking against the Sabers, who were coming off a rugged five-game loss to the Northport Wildcats last Thursday night.

Catholic still managed to keep the scores close in the last two games, and force the Portagers to expend a great deal of energy in winning the match. Scores were: 25-11, 25-20 and 25-19 for the Portagers.

"We knew that we had to keep the ball away from the (Ashley) Bauman girl," Onekama coach Lanette Keith said.

"She had a couple of blocks, but she wasn’t as much of a factor as she could have been, and I attribute that to my girls being smart enough to work the ball away from her.

"She’s just so tall, and quick, that you need to be aware of where she is on the court all the time. I thought my girls did an excellent job of finding her out there, and then making sure that we moved the attack in the other direction."

Chelsey Bromley powered the Onekama attack, leading the Portagers at the service line with 13 points, topping the team in the middle row with 27 passes and being aggressive at the net with nine spikes.

Megan Nesburg, Stacey Keith and Amber Maidens had nine spikes each for the Portagers.

Veronica Maidens was second on the team with 23 passes, had 16 sets and scored nine points.

Ginny Ashworth, a senior, led the Portagers with 29 sets and had 26 passes.

"There were some long volleys," coach Keith said. "You can tell that by the number of passes some of the girls had in the match. It was just an outstanding effort."

Stephanie Ashworth contributed eight passes, three assists and three points. Alyssa Cole, a sophomore, added seven points and five passes. Kelsey Acker had eight points, 10 sets and one tipped ball at the net.

Leading server for the Sabers was Sara Muszynski with a perfect 11-of-11 showing. Lynn Fischer was 10-of-11 with one ace, Megan Johnson finished 7-of-10 with two aces, Paige Ethridge was 6-of-7 with one ace, Elise Bauman finished 4-of-5 with one ace and Ashley Bauman was 3-of-4 with one ace.

Ethridge had five digs, Muszynski three digs with three saves, Megan Johnson three digs, Elise Bauman two digs with three saves and Ashley Bauman two digs with one save.

Fischer led the Sabers in spikes with nine, including four kills. Elise Bauman had eight spikes with two kills, Ashley Bauman seven spikes with three kills and Samantha Johnson four spikes.

Elise Bauman had 18 passes, Ashley Bauman eight and Muszynski six.

Ashley Bauman finished with five blocks, four for points.

Elise Bauman had two and Megan Johnson one.

Fischer topped the Sabers with 11 sets and Megan Johnson had seven. "The girls were adjusting to some lineup modifications in the first game," Sabers’ coach Nancy Nielsen-Sierra said.

"We weren’t playing at our best. We had decent set-ups and attacks, and some really nice blocks.

"We didn’t communicate well at all."

Onekama also won the junior varsity match, 21-19, 21-17 and 13-15.

Danielle Proctor led the Sabers with 12 serves, Maria Peters had 13 passes, while Melissa Shively and Erin Swidorski had 11 passes each.

The Sabers are at home tonight against Frankfort.