Cards win districts, bow out in regional semifinals (with video)

Taylor Ehrke and Sara Fullerton teamed up for a block. (Photo by Richard Lamb)
The Lady Cards captured the district title with a win over Rogers City. (Photo by Richard Lamb)

Another exciting season of Cardinal volleyball came to a sad end at the regional semifinals Tuesday. This year’s team hoped to build on the success of last season’s final four squad, and played like a champion all season long. Those dreams came to an end Tuesday in St. Ignace in a four-set loss to the Pellston Hornets (25-19, 25-23, 13-25, 28-26).

Faced with the prospect of playing without certain all-state left hitter Mariah Ehrke, the Cardinals had a big challenge coming into the match with perennial nemesis the Hornets.

Mariah Ehrke a senior who led the team in virtually every category, badly sprained her left ankle while making a block attempt near the end of last Friday’s district finals against Rogers City.

She tested the ankle in warm-ups, but couldn’t go, so she cheered from the sidelines.

Mariah Ehrke

Mariah Ehrke’s injury forced Watson to shuffle his lineup, moving players to unfamiliar positions to plug the hole left by the loss.

“Mariah is a horse. She gets four and one-half kills a set, so you are looking at 14 kills in a three-set match that you have to replace. And she leads us in digs and she has the highest serve percentage, and you have to replace that. And she is the vocal leader on the floor and we have to replace that. Truth of the matter is, I think we should be representing our region in Battle Creek but we are not. Pellston is going to have to represent us,” Watson said.

AFTER JUMPING out to a 3-0 lead in the first set of the regional, Onaway fell behind 10-5. A kill by Devin Bristley out of the left-hitter slot sparked a short rally for the Cards, but Pellston, powered by three 6-foot front liners, rolled to a 19-13 lead.

A kill from Elise Arkwood cut the lead to four at 22-18, but Pellston held off the charge for a 25-19 win in the first of the best-of-five match.

With the score tied at 8-8 in the second set, Pellston went on a 9-0 run and had momentum rolling.

Onaway cut into the lead at 22-18, after two Pellston errors and a kill by Lexi Szymoniak, then rallied to make the score 23-22.

Another kill from Bristley around the tall arms of the Pellston blockers made it 24-23, Pellston. But the Cards couldn’t get any closer, losing 25-23.

A glimmer of hope appeared for the O-zone, what the supportive Cardinal fans call themselves, as Onaway won the third set 25-13. A kill from Sara Fullerton forced Pellston to call timeout with the score 19-11, as aggressive play powered the win.

That set up what would be the deciding game, a 28-26 Pellston win. The lead changed hands four times before the Hornets broke a 26-26 tie.

“Pellston is the kind of team that doesn’t do anything bad and they don’t do anything over the top great. They just do everything good,” Watson said.

And, like many teams Onaway has faced, Pellston had a size advantage over Onaway.

“We didn’t make it to Battle Creek, but it may still be the best team we have ever had. You could make that argument. We had a lot of kids out there who have played a lot of volleyball the last couple of years and they deserve better than this,” Watson said.

The team had been rated as high as No. 3 in polls.

“We did some things tonight where we were not as smart as we have been in the past. Very rarely did we ever pressure them with anything other than a hard swing. They have some big kids that can block and sometimes you have got to move them around and we didn’t do that,” Watson explained.

Serves were not as sharp as the coach expected, contributing to Pellston’s success, Watson commented.

The coach praised the effort of the rest of the team, but had no limits for his praise of Mariah Ehrke, calling her “the best player Onaway has ever seen.”

“She tried to make a go of it, but couldn’t. When you have the best player you have ever had the chance to coach and you can’t get her on the floor, I don’t know who was more frustrated, her or me or her mom and dad or her teammates. It is unbelievably frustrating,” Watson said.

Bristley, a senior, had an outstanding match, leading the team in kills and making remarkable dig after dig, all while constantly cheering on her teammates. She soared from the left-hitter slot normally occupied by Mariah Ehrke, and hustled on every play.

Devin Bristley

Coach Watson also praised the efforts of Fullerton who went up against much taller opponents and held her ground.

“You just hate to see those kids go, because they did so much for the program,” Watson said.

It also ended the volleyball career of seniors Rachel Nave, who missed the end of the season with an injury.

Statistically, Bristley had 17 kills, 24 digs; Taylor Ehrke had 4 kills, 32, assists 3 aces, 18 digs and 2 blocks; Szymoniak had 10 kills, 13 digs, 3 blocks; Fullerton had 4 kills, 13 digs and 4 blocks; Morganne Badgero had 14 digs, 3 blocks; Arkwood had 3 kills and 4 digs; Ashley LaLonde had 14 digs and Jade Galer had 5 digs.

Onaway won the district volleyball title Friday over Rogers City in four sets 25-20, 25-19, 18-25 27-25.

Rogers City jumped out to an early 10-3 lead in the first set but Onaway battled back, capitalizing on Rogers City errors to tie the game at 11. The game would be tied at 15 and again at 18 but Onaway pulled ahead for good on a kill by Mariah Ehrke that she followed with an ace serve. Kills by Bristley and Szymoniak sealed the deal.

After starting set two tied at one Onaway pulled ahead and never looked back. Rogers City showed fight as they never gave in and battled back the whole game but Onaway proved too much.

Rogers City would take game three to force a fourth game, which proved to be the battle of the night. The score would be tied four times before Onaway pulled ahead. With the score 22-17 Rogers City got the ball back on a kill by Jena Tulgestke and showed some life. Rogers City would battle back to make it 24-24.Onaway pulled ahead by one on a Rogers City error before things got interesting.

Mariah Ehrke then went down with an ankle injury and came out of the game. Sarah Meredith got the ball back for Rogers City with a shot to make it 25 all when Ehrke came out. Onaway took a lead on a carry called on Tulgestke and won the game the next play.

Pellston faces Brimley in the regional final Thursday (after press time) with the winner to take on the regional champion from the Upper Peninsula.