AT THE NET - Tawas Area varsity volleyball players, from left, Lydia Kauffman, Sarah Koroly, Rachel Faught and Jenny Jacques, look to set up a play against Saginaw Heritage during Saturday’s invitational at Frankenmuth. - Photo by Ben Murphy

Lady Braves run into Heritage, again
by Ben Murphy

TAWAS CITY - For the second time in two weeks, the Tawas Area Braves varsity volleyball team made it to the playoffs of a weekend tournament.

Unfortunately for the Braves, it was the second time in two weeks that Saginaw Heritage knocked them out of such a tournament.
Saturday, Sept. 27, saw the Braves in action at the Frankenmuth Eagles Invitational. Tawas dropped its opening match of pool play to Riverview by the scores of 25-22 and 25-18. The second game in pool play action saw Tawas face Heritage. Despite Tawas’ grabbing the first game 27-25, the Hawks took the next two games, 19-25 and 3-15, to take the match.

“We were the only team in pool play to take a game from Heritage,” Tawas Head Coach Carol Elowsky said. “The girls played so well in that match. The third game, we just had our passing fall apart, but that doesn’t even overshadow how well we played in the first two matches.”

The third and final match in pool play had the Braves topping Clio by scores of 25-21 and 26-24.

“Clio was a great match for us,” Elowsky said. “We had some great quality play from senior Sam Duvall at the net as well as Molly Stoll. Molly really shut down their offense, which was really great to see.”

After qualifying for the playoffs in the tournament, the Braves once again had to face Heritage. Just two weeks earlier, on Sept. 13, the Braves were in a similar situation at the Birch Run Invitational. There, the Braves were also slated to play Heritage in the first round of the playoffs after losing to them in pool play. They lost to Heritage in the playoff round then, 25-20 and 25-15, and, unfortunately for the Braves, it was a repeat performance against the Hawks again Saturday.

“We had very few point runs and that was the difference in the match,” Elowsky said. “While we kept Heritage from running more than two or three points, we didn’t get our own runs in and that hurt us.” Despite having the loss send the Braves home from the tournament, Elowsky was pleased with her team’s play in the tournament.

“I was really pleased with our play all day long,” she said. “Once again, Jordan Zimmer led the team in serve receive passing and she also had a great day from the serving line with 12 service aces for the day.”

Jenny Jacques led the team with 26 kills on the day and Elowsky also noted that Stoll led the team at the net in blocking and hitting. “Our hitting as a team looked much improved,” Elowsky said. “Our blocking is also seeing some improvement.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, the Braves were at home in Northeast Michigan Conference (NEMC) play against the Standish-Sterling Panthers. Tawas got off to a slow start by dropping the first two games, 12-25 and 17-25. Sophomore Dana Kolnitys came into the game and sparked the Braves to a 25-20 win.

“Dana has really come alive in the last two weeks, passing and hitting with a lot of accuracy,” Elowsky said. “She had seven kills for the night, playing in just two games.”

“I was really pleased with our play all day long,” she said. “Once again, Jordan Zimmer led the team in serve receive passing and she also had a great day from the serving line with 12 service aces for the day.”

Jenny Jacques led the team with 26 kills on the day and Elowsky also noted that Stoll led the team at the net in blocking and hitting. “Our hitting as a team looked much improved,” Elowsky said. “Our blocking is also seeing some improvement.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, the Braves were at home in Northeast Michigan Conference (NEMC) play against the Standish-Sterling Panthers. Tawas got off to a slow start by dropping the first two games, 12-25 and 17-25. Sophomore Dana Kolnitys came into the game and sparked the Braves to a 25-20 win.

“Dana has really come alive in the last two weeks, passing and hitting with a lot of accuracy,” Elowsky said. “She had seven kills for the night, playing in just two games.”

The Braves were looking to even the match in the fourth game, but were knocked off 20-25 after a long scoring run by the Panthers gave them a big lead.

“We have got to find a way to break the (other team’s) runs in order to compete in our league,” Elowsky said.

On Monday, Sept. 22, Tawas was at Oscoda in non-league action. It took five sets, but Tawas came home with the win by the scores of 25-18, 13-25, 25-19, 20-25 and 15-13. In the final game, the Braves were trailing 12-6 before a late rally led the Braves to victory.

“The team played with confidence and didn’t let any errors get them down,” Elowsky said. “Consistent passing from Zimmer and Jacques really allowed the offense to get on track.”

The Braves, who are 1-4 in the NEMC and 6-13-1 on the season, have struggled in the conference but played well in several tournaments. Elowsky believes she knows why.

“I think, when we go down to tournaments, everyone is loose and just wants to have fun,” she said. “Everyone works to upset the good teams we see down at these tournaments and we really just go for broke. I think sometimes, in league matches, we put too much pressure on ourselves to be perfect and, when we make errors, we get down too quickly.”

With five conference matches left, there is still time for the Braves to move up in the standings.

“We’re not doing as well as we want, but we’re improving,” senior player Jenny Jacques said. “I think the second time around (in NEMC play), we’re going to do better. We’re moving our players around to fix our weak spots. Things are looking good.” Elowsky believes her team can have success in the remainder of the 2008 season.

“If this team could take their tournament demeanor and bring it on Wednesday nights, you would see a very different outcome in our league games,” she said. “I think things look really good for us as we move into the second half of the season.”

The Braves host Whittemore-Prescott today (Wednesday) at 6 p.m.