Refuse to lose: Dragons combine talent, chemistry to make run to Elite Eight
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
LAKE ORION — On Friday night, Lake Orion’s volleyball team took a short road trip. It wasn’t to see the latest flick at AMC or to hang out for some food at Buffalo Wild Wings.
It was, of course, volleyball related.
“I think they needed a night away from the gym,” admitted Lake Orion coach Bob Howey. “I wasn’t going to give them the night off completely. It was a nice bonding event.”
The destination was only Division I Oakland University, just 10 miles down the road. OU held its final regular season volleyball match and the Dragons went and enjoyed a college game — together.
That’s the one of the special threads of this year’s team.
They are close.
They get along on and off the court.
And they are talented.
“We’re all on the same page. We are all close,” said senior outside hitter Liz Kalugar. “We get along so well.”
Lake Orion advanced to the regional finals last season before falling swept by eventual state champion Birmingham Marian in three sets.
They set out to advance further this season with their ultimate sights set on the Final Four. The Dragons are one win away from that point, although this team is different from last year.
The Dragons are much more experienced this season, with eight seniors and eight juniors on a tournament roster of 18 players. They only graduated two players and one starter from last year’s group and eight of the top 10 players from last year are back in uniform.
“We are a different team, more experienced,” said senior defensive specialist Maddie Hutchinson. “That is one of our goals. We really wanted to beat Marian this year (in the tournament) and our goal is to get to Battle Creek.”
Lake Orion, which ironically fell out of the state rankings last week, is a fine 52-12-3 heading into the state quarterfinals and perhaps in the midst of its best season. The Dragons, which already have a school record for wins, play Tuesday night in the Class A state quarterfinals at St. Clair Lake Shore, where they will face ninth-ranked Macomb Dakota, a team Lake Orion defeated twice this season.
Kalugar said that chemistry is one of three reasons that make this year’s team special and why they are part of the Elite Eight in this year’s Class A postseason.
SENIOR-LED: Lake Orion's Liz Kalugar is one of eight seniors on the Dragons' roster and a key part of Orion's run to the Elite Eight. File Photo | Dan Stickradt
“I think it’s been really good team chemistry on and off the court that has made a difference for us,” said Kalugar. “It’s been really interesting to see how well we’ve done so far and how far we can go.
“Our (model) is refuse to lose,” added Kalugar.
This is the furthest Lake Orion has ventured in the postseason since March of 1988, long before volleyball was switched from winter to a fall sport in Michigan (2007). The Dragons reached the Final Four that 1988 season, some 23.5 years ago, before falling to eventual state champion Livonia Ladywood.
Since the inception of the Oakland Activities Association in 1994-95, there has never been a team from the league that has made a run to the Final Four. Five times prior to this season, OAA teams have reached the state quarterfinals, including Birmingham Seaholm, (2001, 2003), Birmingham Groves (2004), Southfield (fall 2007) and Clarkston just last season.
Both Clarkston (ranked third) and Lake Orion are in the Class A quarterfinals this season, just the first time in league history that two schools reached the Elite Eight in the same season.
If they both win, Clarkston and Lake Orion would face in the semifinals Thursday night. Not only would it be the fifth time the two rivals would meet this season, but it would guarantee the OAA a spot in the Class a state finals.
“We’ve talked about it happening,” said senior middle hitter Shannon Murdock, a three-year starter. “But we have to take it one game at a time.”
Hutchinson feels that the league, which has produced state champions in every sport except for volleyball and skiing, has earned some respect this season with three teams breaking into the top 10 in the rankings and two in the Elite Eight.
“It’s great respect for our league,” she smiled. “There’s a lot of good volleyball in our league.”
And there’s good volleyball at Lake Orion, anchored by an eight-player senior class.
“We’ve got this far. We don’t want to stop,” said Murdock. “But it’s strange that this is the last week that we’ll all play together. We’ve talked about this. We want it to last as long as possible.”
IN DEEP TERRITORY
Below is a list of the current members of the Oakland Activities Association that have advanced to at least the state quarterfinals in volleyball since the MHSAA adopted the sport in 1976. The OAA first started in 1994-95 with the merger of the Metro Suburban Activities Association, Southeastern Michigan Association and Greater Oakland Activities League along with some schools from the Macomb-Oakland Athletic Conference and Suburban Athletic Conference. None of those conferences cease to exist anymore.
2011 Clarkston TBA
2011 Lake Orion TBA
2010 Clarkston Lost in quarterfinals to Farmington Hills Mercy
2007-F Southfield Lost in quarterfinals to Fraser
2004 Birmingham Groves Lost in quarterfinals ton Fraser
2003 Birmingham Seaholm* Lost in quarterfinals to Marysville
2001 Birmingham Seaholm* Lost in quarterfinals to Marysville
1997 Oxford* Lost in quarterfinals to Marysville
1992 West Bloomfield Lost in quarterfinals to Portage Northern
1989 Rochester Adams Lost in semifinals to Harper Woods Regina
1988 Lake Orion Lost in semifinals to Livonia Ladywood
1980 Troy Lost in semifinals to Livonia Clarenceville
1978 Ferndale Lost in quarterfinals to Flint Kearsley
1976 Clarkston Lost in quarterfinals to Flint Northern
1976 Ferndale Lost in state finals to Deaborn Fordson
* An asterisk denotes as a Class B school. All other schools reached the finals rounds as Class A schools. F denotes fall 2007 season, as the court-ordered mandate of seasons switch moved volleyball from winter to fall that year.
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REPORTING SCORES
Varsity coaches are urged to report varsity results in a timely fashion by e-mail to senior editor Dan Stickradt at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com or results@northoaklandsports.com, or by calling the sports nightline recording at (248) 812-1053.
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High schools and colleges in the NorthOaklandSports coverage region include Auburn Hills Avondale, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, Auburn Hills Christian Academy, Clarkston, Clarkston Everest Collegiate, Clarkston Springfield Christian, Holly, Lake Orion, Lake Orion Baptist, Lake Orion Shalom Baptist, Ortonville Brandon, Oxford, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Stoney Creek, Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest, Troy, Troy Athens, Troy Bethany Christian, Troy Christian Leadership Academy, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes, plus Rochester College, Oakland University and Oakland Community College.
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