GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Clarkston takes down Holly in district battle of league champions
Wolves to face rival Lake Orion in district finals
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
HOLLY — After winning the OAA Red Division crown last fall, Clarkston had plans of advancing deep into the Division 1 postseason.
Those plans were wrecked by rival Lake Orion.
The Dragons ousted the Wolves in the first round of the districts, 3-1, last November. Lake Orion enjoyed its second straight march to the Final Four while Clarkston stayed home.
This time around Clarkston again captured another OAA-Red title this season and now have earned a chance at redemption against Lake Orion. The Wolves moved past Flint Metro League champion and district host Holly Wednesday night, 3-0, to set up a district finals rematch with Lake Orion — a team that has been in the same district as Clarkston every year since 2012.
Clarkston posted wins of 25-15, 25-15 and 25-18, and the Wolves will battle the Dragons at 7p.m. Thursday, also at Holly.
“I think the girls really wanted that matchup,” smiled Clarkston coach Kelly Pinner, who has consistently kept the Wolves as a top 20 team in Division 1 since taking over the program 18 years ago. “We have five seniors on this team and they want nothing more than (to face Lake Orion). They knocked us out the first day last year.”
Clarkston (24-8-0) did not get caught looking too far ahead, facing a dangerous Holly team that has not won a district since 1994.
In each game against the Bronchos stayed within striking distance for awhile with the state-ranked Wolves.
The first set saw Holly (18-14-0) tie the game at 10-10 before Clarkston used a 7-0 run to distance itself and pull away.
The second game was similar to the first. Holly held a 13-12 edge before an unforced error tied the game and Clarkston went on an 8-1 run for a 20-14 advantage. The Wolves outscored the Broncos 5-1 after that point.
The third set was somewhat closer. The Wolves opened up a 16-9 gap before Holly began to whittle down the deficit. Time ran out on Holly as Clarkston finally pulled away for a final time and the Wolves capped it off with a kill from Shay Bordine.
Senior Claire Nowicki led Clarkston with 15 kills and three aces, while senior Summer Jidas had 15 digs defensively for the Wolves.
“One of our strengths all year is that we have a lot of offensive weapons,” said Pinner. “We aren’t one-dimensional at all. So if someone is not swinging well or if somebody has made a couple of errors, then we have someone else we can go to. I think that opens up things for us and helps us pull through in (close games).”
Holly captured back-to-back league titles for the first time in school history, winning the FML Stripes Division this year with an undefeated league mark — also a school first. The Broncos could never find any postseason magic against a tradition-rich Clarkston program and succumbed at the end.
Holly coach Deena Maher inherited a team that won just four matches in 2015 and in her five seasons has brought the Bronchos back to a level of respectability.
“We accomplished good things. We accomplished what we wanted to in our league, but we were better than (what we showed Wednesday),” offered Maher. “This game did not show (our talent level), which is unfortunate. I am still very proud of this team. We accomplished good things for Holly. We were just dreaming bigger and unfortunately that never came with this senior class. In the future, I hope it can, but it just hasn’t happened yet.”
Holly had an uncharacteristic ending to its season — a campaign that saw the Bronchos go 10-0 within their league.
“Clarkston kept us off-balance,” continued Maher. “Our serve-receive was not the best and that caused us to be out of system a lot. That’s just not the team that we are. We could have played a lot better today.”
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