Lake Orion drops funnel cloud on Rochester Adams
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ROCHESTER HILLS — Rochester Adams felt what it’s like to be in the path of a tornado Thursday night.
Coming from the north, the funnel cloud left a path of destruction during a time frame of just a mere 1 hour and 3 minutes.
That storm activity came from Lake Orion, which posted a 3-0 sweep in a Class A girls volleyball district semifinal at Rochester. The seventh-ranked Dragons posted a 25-11, 25-10, 25-23 victory, defeating the Highlanders in the district semifinals for the second straight year.
Lake Orion advances to Saturday’s 12 noon district championship at Rochester against the host Falcons, who rallied for a thrilling, 3-2, victory over Rochester Stoney Creek in Thursday’s second semifinal.
Liz Kalugar and Shannon Murdock both had nine kills and Sophie Murdock added eight kills for the Dragons (49-12-3). Gwen Motley and Dana Schrauben both added 14 assists and Angelia LeDonne had five blocks, putting her at over 100 for the season. Maddie Hutchinson contributed 20 digs for Lake Orion.
The Dragons’ coaching staff has stressed not overlooking any team in the postseason despite the fact that they entered the district as the heavy favorite.
“It is really important if you overlook someone and come out flat — you’re off one night and your whole season is done,” reminded Lake Orion coach Bob Howey. “What’s good about it is they get it. I don’t have to say much about it. In fact, to be honest, last night I gave out schedules for the rest of November and girls started to looking at it. A couple of girls sitting down said I don’t want to talk about anything else but Thursday. They really do get it.”
Lake Orion, a senior-laden team that reached the Sweet 16 last season, came out with all guns a blazing, taking the first two games in 30 minutes. The Dragons defense was superb digging out balls and serves while the frontcourt wide array of weapons were finding holes in the Adams defense left and right.
At one point in Game 1, Lake Orion led 18-6 before closing out with a 7-5 run. The second game saw a similar result, with the Dragons quickly building a 17-5 advantage before an 8-5 spurt ended the set.
Adams (16-27-5) played Lake Orion tight in Game 3, but the damage had already been done. The funnel cloud dropped back down on Adams and kills from Shannon Murdock and Maddie Hutchinson ended the match.
“The first game (was) tough. The second game we started to roll a bit but you can’t get down that far against a team like that,” said Adams coach Raey Zoellner. “The third game momentum shifted completely for the game up until it was around 20, 21 points for Lake Orion. When you have a team like (Lake Orion) that is that talented all the way around, the little mistakes are big. We came out of a timeout (and we had) a missed serve. I think had we made that serve ran our offense the way we were doing in the third game, we might have been able to stretch it out to a fourth game.”
Adams ventured through a rebuilding year with included several first-year varsity players and the loss of perhaps its top player to an injury for two thirds of the season. The Highlanders collectively shot themselves in the foot against the Dragons, finishing with 12 service errors and had not match of blocking Lake Orion’s big guns.
“We knew we had to play a near-perfect match to beat them,” added Zoellner.
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Category: Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), Lake Orion, Prep Wraps, Rochester Adams
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