Onekama High Volleyball 2013

BIG RAPIDS —It was a successful night for Crossroads Charter Academy’s volleyball team Thursday as the Cougars took down both Onekama and McBain Northern Michigan Christian.

The Cougars picked up a 3-0 victory over West Michigan D league foe Onekama to open Thursday’s tri-meet action, winning 25-8, 25-16 and 25-9.

CCA coach Amanda Brown said while any victory is good, victories against conference foes are all that much more important.

“We would like to have a serious run at the conference title,” she said. “It was huge to get that win. We take everything seriously but league games are even more serious.”

The Cougars raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first game against the Portagers and never looked back as they cruised to the 25-8 victory.

It was much of the same in the second set as CCA built up a 14-8 advantage and moved on to the 25-16 set victory.

The Cougars and Portagers battled to an early 4-4 tie in the third set but CCA went on a 21-5 scoring run to take the set 25-9 and secure the victory.

For CCA, Miranda Carlson had five aces and three kills while Malory Carlson had four aces and six kills and Katie Vander Sloot scored three aces.

For Onekama, Quinn Lamont had four kills and Anna Brown dished out six assists.

The Portagers got back to action against McBain NMC after the CCA loss, losing 2-0 in sets of 25-11, 25-12.

Onekama fell behind 6-1 in the first set but rallied back to knot the score at 7. McBain NMC then ripped off an 18-4 scoring run to come away with the 25-11 victory.

The Portagers fell behind 9-4 in the second set but there was no comeback this time as McBain NMC held the Portagers at bay to win the set 25-12 and secure the 2-0 victory.

With such a young roster, Onekama coach Sherri Slater said while winning is always the main objective, she’s just looking to see continued improvement from game-to-game with her team.

“I thought that we had our great moments at times and that we worked well as a team,” she said. “I told the girls I thought (Thursday) was a good step forward for them and I just want to keep going that way.”

Crossroads took the floor against McBain NMC to cap off the tri-meet, with CCA pulling out the victory.

CCA (15-4, 3-0 WMD) returns to action Saturday at the McBain Invitational while the Portagers host their own invitational on Saturday.