Written, Wedensday November 10th, at 12:55 PM
Wow, what a roll the Dragon Volleyball team has been on these days.
The days of girls basketball season is upon us and the Dragon ladies are having their best volleyball season in years.
Last week the Dragons captured their first volleyball district championship in 15 years, when they swept Rochester 3-0 with a 25-14, 25-17, 25-15 win. They also had a tough five game stretch with Rochester Adams, needing the final game to move to the finals, and in the pre district they knocked off Romeo in three gamess.
On Tuesday the Dragons entered the regional semifinals at Oxford. They took on the Yellow Jackets of Auburn Hills Avondale in the first regional semifinal matchup of the day at Oxford. Avondale won their district at Waterford Kettering, in the process in the championship game the Yellow Jackets knocked the Captians out of the tournament in the process winning at their own gym.
Avondale was no match for the Dragons in the first two games, as the Dragons outscored them 50-20 in a span of two games. Game three changed everything however, the Yellow Jackets started to believe again, they held off a furious Dragon rally and upset the Dragons 25-23. However Game four was dominated by the Dragons, the Dragons restored order in the process, attacking them early and often during the game. They finished off the Yellow Jackets 25-15 and advanced to their first regional final in 22 years.
Orion now stands at 41-15-5 overall, and now will play defending state champion Birmingham Marian (65-5-5) on Thursday night at Oxford at 7 PM. Almost every volleyball expert has the Mustangs as the favorite in this matchup but the Mustangs have had some injury concerns heading into the postseason. This is one of Orion's most taltened team's, this will be a good one. Could this be the Dragons's chance to really do something special and pull off what would be the biggest upset in the state of Michigan?, we'll find out.
What a roll, but will the roll run out on Thursday Night at Oxford, hope not. GO GREEN.
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Well I have to say that Lake Orion volleyball has never seen such an unbelievably talented group of athletes. Congratulations! What a great season, too bad it ended on such a dissappointing note. Yes, Marian is a great team, one that I predict will be state champs, but I think LO would have had a better chance of winning if coach had used the line-up he had been using prior to that point. The one that got him thru the end of his season, thru districts and into regionals. You have to ask why a seasoned coach would make such a fatal mistake and rob his team of possible victory. Point in case, just because you throw in your second string against Avondale (a team that JV could probably beat) and one of your players has a good game (again, against a much smaller and slower team) does not justify putting her in against a team like Marian, when you had a much quicker, qualified and proven player sitting on the bench. One that showed time and time again her abilities against harder teams then Avondale. What were you thinking? And what about switching your outside hitters from the side they are used to playing to the side they usually don't? Rookie coaching mistakes. They honestly looked confused out there and not very confident in the new arrangement! A little late in the game to be mixing things up coach. Hey, here's an idea, why not start with the team that got you to that point in the first place and if they falter then try something else? As a fan and follower of Lake Orion volleyball I can truly say that coach needs to step up, be a man and take full responsibility for this loss! Great season ladies you should be very proud!
ReplyDeleteA truly devoted and frustrated LO fan!
Well I look at it like this love lovb, you need to add depth in-case someone goes down, that's why you play your second string, plus playing time to the other ladies who haven't seen action all season has to do that. In my opinion this season the team was a modified version of Jekyll and Hyde, all volleyball teams even the good ones will do that time to time.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't at the two games at Oxford but I agree with you 100 percent, if you want to be a championship team you have to develop a killer instant, whether it is your first group or your second group. Both groups have to have that from coaching to the players, I've seen that on so many occasions from Football, Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, and Track.
Against Avondale it was understandable that Coach did that, but against Marian that's a whole another story. You need to keep your best players in there at all times, and that's where I see your frustration here.
If I coached and I was playing Marian I wouldn't stop, I would just keep attacking and not let them catch their breath, that's what Mercy did against Marian in their two previous meetings with them.
I think Orion will be back, despite losing two seniors in Linnea Berriman and Alyssa Wesley, plus the JV and Freshman teams look good once again, I see Orion being back in the post-season next season, possibly win the OAA Red and make a long run in the State playoffs.
Sammy