Lake Orion finishes second at Portage Central tourney
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
PORTAGE — Lake Orion made a push to climb the girls volleyball rankings in Class A this week.
The Dragons, who are ranked ninth, finished second at Saturday’s Portage Central Invitational, going 6-1-0 on the day. In that stretch, Lake Orion finished 5-1 against other state-ranked teams.
The Dragons, who improved to 27-6-1 on the year, eventually succumbed to Class A third-ranked Rockford in the finals, 25-22, 25-23.
“We had a great day at Portage Central. We did lose in the final to Rockford by a total of five points after beating them earlier in the day,” said Lake Orion coach Bob Howey. “But we beat (Birmingham) Marian again. We had a stretch of three matches in a row where we beat (Richland) Gull Lake, Rockford and Marian.”
Lake Orion toppled Livonia Ladywood (25-11, 25-21) and Richland Gull Lake (18-25, 25-19, 15-6) in pool play, then in Power Bracket Pool the Dragons recorded victories over Rockford (17-25, 25-17, 15-11) and Marian (25-23, 25-22).
In the Gold Bracket Playoffs, Lake Orion also beat Plainwell (25-17, 17-25, 15-13) and Fruitport (25-21, 25-21) before running out of gas against Rockford.
Entering the tournament, which annually attracts state ranked teams from around Michigan, Fruitport was ranked seventh in class B, Plainwell was listed as third in Class B, Ladywood was honorable mention in Class B, Gull Lake was fourth in Class A, Rockford third in Class A and Marian second in Class A.
Shannon Murdock led the Dragons with had 64 kills on the day. Liz Kalugar had 52 kills, Gwen Motely added 154 assists and Maddie Hutchison had 127 digs, 70 service points and nine aces for Lake Orion.
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Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Lake Orion
