Cardinal volleyball team wins prestigious Petoskey tournament
The Onaway High School varsity volleyball team won Saturday’s Petoskey Invitational tournament for the first time in the program’s history. It was the Cardinals third tourney title this season, and their most difficult to date.
The field that the Cards had to navigate to bring home the trophy included some of the finest squads in northern Michigan. Among the schools included in the field were:
- Class A Sault Ste. Marie, which defeated OHS last season.
- Leland, ranked third in the state in Class D coming into the tournament.
- Boyne City, an honorable mention Class C squad.
- Class B Cheboygan, which had defeated Onaway once this season.
- Pellston, a perennial Class D power.
- Petoskey, which had won the tournament the past five years in a row.
Not only did OHS navigate that field on its way to the title, the Cards didn’t drop a match all day, defeating the Soo (25-15, 25-17) and Pellston (25-17, 25-21), and splitting with Leland (21-25, 25-20) and Boyne (25-21, 19-25) in pool play.
Onaway then knocked off Cheboygan, 25-20 and 25-10, in the semifinals before defeating Boyne City again, 25-23 and 25-23, in the tourney championship match.
The Cards raced out to sizeable leads in both championship sets, lost those leads, fell behind, then pulled out the wins, showing a great deal of mental fortitude in the process.
Mariah Ehrke and Lexi Szymoniak were named to the six-player all-tournament team, with Ehrke recording 59 kills, 62 digs and four blocks, and Szymoniak compiling 22 kills, 52 digs, and seven blocks.
Devin Bristley recorded 38 kills, 50 digs, and nine aces, while Taylor Ehrke had an impressive 124 assists to go with five aces
Onaway was the first Class D team to win the tournament since 2006.
Three days later, the Red Birds improved to 2-0 in the Ski Valley Conference by defeating visiting Inland Lakes, 25-14, 25-12, and 25-12. Onaway is 22-4-3 overall, and ranked sixth in the latest Class D poll.
Bristley had six kills on eight attacks, 10 aces and four digs. Mariah Ehrke had seven kills, eight digs, and four aces, Taylor Ehrke had 21 assists and four aces, and Brianna Fitzpatrick and Morganne Badgero had five digs apiece.
The volleyball team will play at Forest Area on Tuesday and travel to Gaylord St. Mary on Thursday.