Cards win over Rogers City in district semis

The Lady Cardinals were to face Posen in the district finals Thursday (past press time) for the right to play in Tuesday’s regional opener in St. Ignace. Onaway got by a spirited Rogers City team in the district opener Wednesday in Posen by scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-18.

“Rogers City came to play tonight and I figured they would. We’ve played them three times and each time I think they got better. Tonight they were tough and I think our girls kind of anticipated that,” said Cardinal coach Steve Watson.

The first set started all Rogers City, as the Hurons went up 5-2. Then, behind the leadership of all-state setter Megan Estep, the Cards roared back. Estep started a 4-0 rally with a well-placed tip at the net and closed it with a service ace.

Freshman left hitter Sarah Meredith’s kill put the Hurons up 10-7 before another Cardinal rally. The score was tied at 11-11, 14-14 and 15-15 before the Cardinals pulled away with a 9-0 run.

In set two of the match, Onaway led 5-1 in the early going. Kallie Shimel’s kill off a set from Estep gave the Cardinals a 7-2 lead. The Cards then went up 15-9 on the strength of kills by sophomore Lexi Szymoniak and junior left-hitter Mariah Ehrke.

The teams traded points until a bad serve gave the Cards the winning margin.

Facing elimination in the third set, the Huron used kills by senior middle hitter Lindsey Claus to go up 3-2. Her opposite number 3 on the Cardinals’s side countered her kills as Ehrke caught fire. Rogers City could get no closer that four points the rest of the way.

“They have a lot of good athletes. Anytime you can beat a team like that it says something good about your team. Our girls played pretty solid in the first set. We gave too many points away on attacks and serving errors,” Watson said.

“I felt like we were g

iving too many points away for free. You just can’t do that against good teams. The biggest thing I was really pleased with is our front row did a good job of taking the big hitters away. It really controlled the game for us.”

Statistically on the day Ehrke had a big day with 14 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs and a block. Megan Estep, had 5 kills, 30 assists, 3 aces and 12 digs while Szymoniak had 10 kills, 5 digs, 2 blocks

Devin Bristley notched 5 kills, 5 aces and 12 digs.

Emily Estep had 5 digs while Meagan Self had 2 kills, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Sara Fullerton added 2 kills and 3 ace serves.

The winner of Thursday’s district finals advances to regional play Tuesday at 5:30 at St. Ignace. They play the winner of the Alanson district. The regional finals are set for Thursday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 at St. Ignace. The regional winner advances to the quarterfinal game Nov. 13 at Petoskey.