Dragons sweep Wildcats, await Wolves next.

Written October 14th, at 10:14 AM

The Lake Orion Dragons girls volleyball team felt the pain of losing four in a row last season that cost them a spot for the OAA Red title and they did not want to feel that pace.

Setting up with a league showdown with Clarkston on Senior Night I might add on Tuesday night, the Dragons took care of some business Thursday night by sweeping the Oxford Wildcats 25-18, 25-17, and 25-16 to force the showdown of two unbeaten powers.

The Dragons were balanced all night with kills, assists, and digs. They were led by senior Shannon Murdock's ten kills. Senior Taylor Hargraves added six kills along with sophomore Sophie Murdock who also added six kills. Senior Maddie Hutchinson added 14 digs and a 2.6 serve rating with her 14 service points. Senior Liz Kalugar added six kills, five service points, and six digs while seniors Gwen Motley and Dana Schrauben combined for 36 assists in the contest.


The Dragons depth has been a benefit to coach Bob Howey and they will need that when the Wolves come to town Tuesday Night. "We do have a lot of depth, which I think has helped us all season" Howey said to reporters after the game.

Orion (37-8-2, 6-0 in the OAA Red) now sets the stage with Clarkston, also unbeaten in the OAA Red. If the Dragons can get past the Wolves and the Raiders next Thursday Night, the Dragons could have their first OAA Red title ever.

Howey knows this team needs to improve quickly with Clarkston coming in but they did just enough to get this one in the win column. We didn’t play great. We just did what we had to do to win," said Howey to reporters. "We’re going to have to play better (against Clarkston). I think the girls know that. We have been going hard at it since August. We’ll fix some things this Saturday at a tournament."

The Wildcats (22-16-1) did not do bad themselves either, even though they knew they had to play the perfect game to beat the Dragons saw the future bright in sophomore Darien Bandel. Bandel had eight kills and 14 digs to lead the Oxford attack. "I’m not unhappy with the first part of the games. We just need to learn how to stick it out. We were always chasing," said Oxford coach Kristi McDevitt to reporters.

Both the Dragons and the Wildcats will play each other in the first round of districts in a few weeks (Monday November 7th) at Lake Orion with the winner facing Rochester Adams at Rochester on Wednesday November 9th at 5:30 PM. "I just told the girls to store this feeling. This is the team that we’re seeing the first round of districts," McDevitt concluded to reporters.