“It was a long night,” Bear Lake coach Amy Bowman said after her Lakers dropped the first two games (25-15, 25-18) to Onekama in the night’s last match, which was shortened from best of five to best of three games due to time constraints.

“I’m not sure what happened there,” she said of dropping the third and fourth games to Traverse City after winning the first two. “It was just simple errors — not talking, lack of communication and spacing.  But, we played them last Saturday and lost, so this feels better,” Bowman said of the Bulldogs.

Like the other two teams however, Traverse City was able to go home with a victory under the belt as well. The Bulldogs topped the Portagers in the meet’s first match 22-25, 25-17, 30-28, 25-13.

“Winning that first match was wonderful for our girls,” Bulldogs’ coach Patrick O’Hara said. “Especially playing at this level. Our youngest player is 13 on our varsity team. So, playing against these older girls is just a treat for them. We just try to play as many games as we can against these schools.”

Onekama coach Lanette Keith described a night and day difference between the Portagers’ loss to the hands of the Bulldogs and the late-night victory against the Lakers. “That was a totally different team out there,” she said after Onekama’s win.

“The first game we struggled a lot. We came out strong, but then as each game went on, we just didn’t do well. “(But against Bear Lake) we had awesome serving. We had a lot of powerful hits at the net, so that helps. We seemed to play a lot better together as a team.”

And playing as a team is what Keith hopes will help as the season progresses from its early stages.  “It’s still so early and we haven’t had a practice with all our girls together yet, so when we can, that’ll make a big difference.”

Bear Lake’s Kaydee Swanson (right) sets the ball while Onekama’s Sherece Revolt (left) jumps to block and Jennica Mathieu looks on during a match on Monday night at Bear Lake. (Dylan Savela/ News Advocate)