With season winding down OHS volleyball team eyes district title

The regular season came to an end for the Onaway High School (OHS) volleyball team with Wednesday’s Presque Isle County tournament at Posen (results will appear in next week’s Outlook).

Next Wednesday, the Cardinals will begin their quest for a second consecutive trip to the Class D State Finals when they face Wolverine in a district semifinal at Rogers City. That match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

If the Cardinals, 42-8-3 and ranked third in the latest Class D poll, defeat the Wildcats they likely will face the host Hurons, ranked seventh in the same Class D poll, in next Friday’s district championship.

On Monday, OHS swept a match at Cedarville, winning 25-16, 25-10, and 25-14. Mariah Ehrke had 13 kills and eight digs, while Lexi Szymoniak had eight kills, five digs and four aces.

Devin Bristley recorded seven kills, three digs, and six aces; Taylor Ehrke had 27 assists, nine digs, four aces; and Jade Galer finished with two kills and five digs.

Two days earlier, the Cardinals competed in a highly-competitive tournament at St. Louis. Of the 16 teams invited to the tourney, six came in with state rankings in Classes C and D.

In pool play, Onaway defeated Saginaw Swan Valley, 24-26, 25-21, and 15-8, knocked off Corunna, 25-22, 22-25, and 15-11, and fell to Beal City (ranked second in the latest Class C poll), 22-25 and 15-25.

By finishing second in their pool, the Red Birds qualified for the gold bracket, where they fell in the quarterfinals to Freeland, 23-25, 25-18, and 13-15, to see their day come to an end.

Morley-Stanwood, ranked third in Class C, defeated Beal City on its way to the tournament championship. While OHS coach Steve Watson was disappointed by the way the day ended, he was pleased with his team’s play.

“While all of the teams in the tournament were good, I didn’t think Freeland was quite as good as the teams we’d defeated in our pool,” Watson said. “In the end, our serving cost us.

“We had served extremely well all day. It had been a strength for us. But in that last game, we made four service errors. You can’t do that against a good team in a game to 1

5.

“But overall, I thought we played extremely well against some great competition. We beat some good teams, and held our own against Beal City. Even that second game was much closer than the score might indicate.

“This was good preparation for what we hope will be a long playoff run.”

Mariah Ehrke finished with 55 kills and 49 digs on the day. Bristley had 22 kills, 45 digs, and four aces, and Taylor Ehrke recorded 81 assists, 22 digs, and five aces.

Szymoniak recorded 11 kills, 35 digs, and eight blocks; Sara Fullerton had 11 kills and 22 digs; and Morganne Badgero had 16 digs.