It's been a long, long time since Pellston volleyball defeated Onaway in Ski Valley play. The Hornets put an end to their drought on Tuesday.
PELLSTON – It’s been a long time since the Pellston volleyball team defeated Onaway in a Ski Valley Conference match.
When asked about it, Pellston coach Brooke Groff wasn’t sure.
Eventually, she’ll know.
On Tuesday, the long losing drought against the Cardinals was ended by the Hornets, who captured a five-set victory over Onaway (25-20, 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 15-5) in a conference clash at Pellston.
“It’s a special night,” Groff said following the win. “We beat them (at a quad match last week), but this was our Ski Valley matchup with them, and I know the kids were focused coming into the match tonight. It was a big win for us.”
Here’s some more takeaways from Tuesday’s match.
Taking back control
The Hornets (10-8-5, 2-1 Ski Valley) used a pair of quality opening two sets to build a commanding 2-0 lead in the match, but the Cardinals refused to quit, as their powerful attackers woke up and pushed them to a set-three win. Onaway took a sizeable lead in the fourth, and while the Hornets cut the deficit to two late, the Cardinals won the set and seized momentum heading into the fifth.
But on this night, the Hornets wouldn’t be denied. Behind the relentless attacking of senior Lanie Irwin and the all-around play of senior setter Breanna Willis, Pellston built a quick 4-0 lead, extended it, and finally ended a long and grueling match with a kill from Irwin.
“It’s really great to finally beat them after so long,” Irwin said. “I think we were able to keep ourselves positive and push until the end. Getting ourselves in a good mood before the game really motivates us.”
Irwin, a hitting star throughout her four-year varsity career, was honored before the game after reaching 1,000 career kills during a quad match at Onaway late last week.
Irwin finished with a game-high 20 kills for Pellston, while Willis tallied 34 assists.
More Pellston stats will be provided as soon as they become available.
'It’s a mental thing’
The Cardinals delivered one of heck of a comeback to even the match, but their inconsistency from the opening two sets returned at the worst possible time, which resulted in defeat.
“It’s a mental thing,” Onaway coach Steve Watson said. “We just talked about it in the locker room afterwards, where we’ve had trouble in deciding sets this year, more than once. I feel like if that was a third set or a second set, you wouldn’t have seen a 10-point lead there early on like that. I think they let mistakes compound into their mentality on the next play. We’ve just got to find a way to be more mentally tough in those situations.”
Ella Lintz finished with 13 kills, 28 digs and two aces for the Cardinals, who received eight kills, seven digs and two blocks from Amya Janusky, 29 assists, 13 digs, two kills and two blocks and Brooklyn Boughner, and seven kills and 18 digs from Carley Karsten. Marley Szymoniak and Cassidy Karsten rounded out Onaway with nine and seven digs respectively.
Massive win
What Groff didn’t downplay was the magnitude of Tuesday’s win, which is something the Pellston program has been aiming for in recent years.
And finally, they got it done.
“In my eyes, it’s big. For the kids, it’s big,” Groff said. “I have seven seniors, we’ve been together the last three years, and so this is what we’ve been working for this whole time.”
Pellston continues Ski Valley play when it travels to East Jordan on Wednesday.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Pellston volleyball defeats Onaway in five-set Ski Valley match
Category: General Sports
