Lady Cards take district title over Hillman

November 6, 2014November 6, 2014 Editor featured

4514-with-ozone — Onaway's fans, the "Ozone" celebrated a district championship with the Lady Cardinal volleyball team. (Photo by Richard Lamb)

In front of the Ozone crowd, the Lady Cardinals(32-16-5) took the district title over Hillman Thursday. The enthusiastic crowd, named the Ozone, supported their team as they took Hillman in three sets, 25-14, 36-24 and 25-22.

4514-lexi-block — Lexi Szymoniak makes a block on a Hillman player in game two of the district championship match. (Photo by Richard Lamb)

Trailing 11-8 in the second set, the Cards ran off the next six points to take the lead. The teams tied again at 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 before Hillman had set point at 24-22. Then setter Taylor Ehrke made a sneaky tip for point 23 before Brianna Fitzpatrick delivered an ace to give the Cards a 25-24 lead. Szymoniak, who had an outstanding all-around match, blocked a kill attempt for the winning point.

That sends Onaway into the regionals in Pellston Tuesday. They are set to play in the second match of the night, beginning around 7 p.m.

“We were not as efficient as we were the other night. We had too many errors, that is for sure,” said coach Steve Watson after the match.

Lexi Szymoniak led the team with 13 kills, aces and 29 digs. Taylor Ehrke had 5 kills, 25 set assists and 5 aces and 14 digs. Elyse Arkwood had 7 kills, 3 assists and 10 digs. Morganne Badergo had 5 kills, 2 aces and 16 digs.