Solid serving sparks Portagers past Sabers

ONEKAMA — The serving rotation couldn’t have been timed more perfectly for the Portagers.

If they could have picked a server to combat a Manistee Catholic Central rally in Game 4 Thursday night, Onekama most likely would have sent Nicki Slater to the line.

It just so happened, it was her turn anyway.

With the Portagers trailing 22-20 and the Sabers threatening to send the match to five games, Slater served up her fourth three-point string of the night, giving her team the final lead and sealing the West Michigan D League match, 25-12, 20-25, 25-18, 25-23.

“From Tuesday’s game she adjusted her toss a little bit,” said Onekama coach Sherri Slater, “but she and Jennica (Mathieu) are normally the most consistent servers. They seem to handle pressure well.”

Slater finished 28-of-30 from the line with five aces Thursday night, which included four strings of three, a string of four and a string of 10 points. She also led her team in assists with 14. Her 10-point serving streak gave Onekama a quick foot forward in the Game 1 win.

The final three games, however, relied heavily on momentum at the net.

“They were doing really well at times, but we had difficulty when we started getting a little nervous and all our attacks just kind of fell dead,” said Sabers coach Maryann Allen. “Once they went back out with gusto, they were fine. We just need to work on putting it away and putting it over.”

Mimi Modjeski led the way for the Sabers with eight kills, eight digs and six aces while teammates Alysha Heck had seven kills, seven digs and two aces, Jordan Barnett had two aces eight digs and three kills, Amber Robke had four digs, three assists and two kills, and Michaela Peterson had three digs and two kills.

Sherri Slater agreed that aggressiveness was key to success.

“You could just see it from one game to the next,” Slater said. “We would be hesitant and give up a bunch of unforced errors, then they would be kind of hesitant — tipping a lot, getting some unforced errors. That last game, both teams were playing their guts out — staying aggressive, hitting hard.”

Slater cited strong play at the net from Mathieu, who had 10 kills to go with three aces and a perfect serving percentage.

“She did a really good job picking her spots to tip and picking her spots to kill,” she said. “She was making some real good decisions tonight.”

Also for the Portagers, Kelly Koon had four aces and four kills, Elizabeth Bergren had two aces and two kills, Lindsay Nesburg had three aces and Anna Brown had a pair of aces.

Photos by Jeri Prielipp

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