Bobcats, Portagers advance to district semifinals at Buckley
 

Posted by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate

BUCKLEY — Before the week started, neither Brethren nor Onekama wanted to look past its first opponent on the road to a Class D district title.

After Monday’s quarterfinal round in Buckley, however, both teams earned the right to do so.

The Portagers eliminated the tournament hosting Bears 25-17, 25-12, 22-25, 25-11 as the Bobcats took care of Mesick 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-15.

The county rivals will return to Buckley on Wednesday for their respective semifinal as Onekama plays Bear Lake at 6 p.m. with Brethren’s match against Frankfort to follow.

“I think that’s probably the best, complete match that we’ve played the entire year,” said Onekama coach Sherri Slater of Monday’s opener. “We’ve had two very close matches with this team earlier in the year that we split, so I knew tonight would be close.”

The Portagers, however, had full control the majority of the match as Kelly Koon led the way with 13 kills and four aces.

Onekama’s Alexis Tribfelner had seven kills and two aces, Kaylan Fitch six kills and three aces, Emily Bergren had five kills, six aces, and 11 digs and Anna Brown had a team-high 28 assists with two kills and five aces.

“I knew that we couldn’t let them sneak back into it,” Slater said of dropping the third set after dominating Buckley in the second. “We had to be the team that stayed aggressive and kept attacking. We wanted them on their heels rather than sending it over and helping set them up for their attack.

“In the third game, we got away a little bit from our communication, but I give them a lot of credit for going back into that fourth game refocused.”

Brethren entered the night’s second quarterfinal with the most impressive resume during the regular season.

The Bobcats won the West Michigan D League and have victories against each team competing in their district this week.

However, Mesick put together a solid first set to take a 1-0 match lead over Brethren.

Onekama’s Emily Bergren helped her team beat Buckley in four games. (Photo by
Dylan Savela / Manistee News Advocate)

“It was a close loss — not like a big blowout that shocked us or anything,” said Brethren coach Rachel Edmondson, “so I told the girls, ‘hey it was a loss, but we can shake it off and come back.’ And they did.”

Brethren was led by Hailey Guinan on the night with 30 points from the service line including six aces. Sarah Costello had 16 service points and five digs for Brethren while senior Annie MacNeil had 20 kills and four blocks.

“The biggest thing we did after (the first set) was we got our passing back,” Edmondson explained. “That got us out of our offense a bit, and when we lose that, we lose a little bit of enthusiasm.

“So, we definitely wanted to get back on track with that.”

Brethren looked to have the second set well in hand with a 21-11 lead before the resilient Bulldogs rallied back to tie it at 23-23. The Bobcats bounced back, however, and scored the last two points to even the series at a game apiece.

“We started off the night kind of reaching, but as soon as we started moving our feet, making that extra step, it all came together,” Edmondson said. “Sometimes that’s all it takes is that one step.”

Brethren took command and stayed in the lead for the majority of the final two sets, highlighted by Guinan’s 13-point string from the line of service to help put away the match.

“Mesick kept us on our toes, and we know that Frankfort is the same type of team,” Edmondson said of the pending semifinal matchup. “Primarily we just want to stay consistent with what we do well. We’ve got to make sure we’re on tempo.”

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