Dragons Ladies hammer Cougars and my thoughts on the Red so far.

Written Friday October 4th, at 12:20 AM

The 2013 Lake Orion Lady Dragons looked like that got the bad taste from last season out of their mouth's early on in Red play. 

The second ranked team in the state in Class A kicked off the Red season Thursday night against a young and upstart Stoney Creek Cougars in Rochester with focus and determination for a team that has a lot of young and veteran experience.

The Cougars went to the district finals before falling to Utica Eisenhower last season lost to the Eagles on Tuesday night in four games however were no match for the Dragons as Lake Orion took the match in three games 25-12, 25-13, and 25-22.

The Dragons who return several key peaces on a team that lost two five game heart-breakers to Clarkston (OAA Red title game, and District Finals) last season looked like the team that everyone expected to be.

Lake Orion was led by Rachel Giwa’s 27 assists and nine digs. Ally Shinouskis’s 18 digs, and Senior Tess Marshall’s six digs and eight kills. Hannah Murdock did well in the match as well.

Stoney Creek was led by Sammy Salliman’s six kills and 12 digs along with Morgan Barin’s seven kills and 13 digs.

The Dragons will open up the home season on Tuesday night as they will host North Farmington. The Raiders fell in three games to Clarkston 25-16, 25-13, and 25-8 at Clarkston on Thursday night.

In other games around the Red:

I thought Lake Orion was dominant tonight against Stoney Creek. The Dragons look like they are the team to beat in the Red. I still believe however that Clarkston is the team to beat because of their numerous Red titles. We’ll see what happens with that on October 15^th when the Wolves visit Lake Orion to meet the Dragons. Lake Orion looks very good for coach Ross Talbott in the form of Hannah Murdock, Rachel Giwa, Ally Shinouskis, Maddie Hargraves, Tess Marshall, Kayla Rockey, among others. Stoney Creek, I thought looked like a tired team tonight, even though they played Tuesday night against Utica Eisenhower at home. The Eagles are probably the third best team in the Macomb Area Red division behind defending state champions Macomb Dakota and Romeo but they do have some young talent in the form of Sammy Salliman and Morgan Barin, both will be very good players this season and could spoiler some team’s dreams in tournament and league play this season.

I was stunned with Oxford beating Bloomfield Hills tonight but in three games 26-24, 25-16, and 25-15, and ON THE ROAD might add, you got to be kidding me??? Bloomfield Hills was picked to challenge Lake Orion and Clarkston in the Red this season and contend for the Red. They still can but have to beat both teams to do so which won't be easy. The Wildcats came back from 21-16 down in the first set to pull off and 7-3 in the second game to pull off the huge upset. Huge props go to coach Kristi McDevitt and her crew led by Darien Bandel. Bandel did get some help in this match in the form of Kennedy Orr, Taylor Taraski, and Julia Walker. I said in the blog that for the Wildcats to do well they need Bandel to do well and then some and then get help which she got tonight. The Blackhawks have a very good team this season with some key returning starters with combination of talent from Bloomfield Hills Lahser and Bloomfield Hills Andover (14 of 15 players played on either the Knights or the Barons last season) but the Wildcats found a way to win that match and believe. It gives them a lot of confidence heading into league play that they can compete with anyone.

I wasn’t surprised that Birmingham Seaholm won in three games over Troy 25-23, 25-21, 25-16 at Troy. The Maples lost a lot of talent (Erin Neudenfelt, Lisa White, and Andrea Gothard) on a team that went to the state quarterfinals last season and will be relying a lot on their leadership experience in Maddie Varlese and Paige Zywick along with sophomores hitters Lauren McLeod, Kate Carey, and Annie Schechter for Coach Heather Lippert this season. The Colts were missing Olivia Parks in that game to a torn ACL and also lost a lot of experience for Coach Vince Muscatt. Both teams are young right now but you look at it, without Parks  for the Colts, Troy is in a lot of trouble right now.

I wasn’t surprised with Clarkston that they blew out North Farmington 25-16, 25-13, and 25-8. The Wolves are talented once again for Coach Kelly Avernall in Brianna Frakes, Katie Chadwell who is going to Oakland next season, Kacy Robinson, and the big fish in Alabama transfer Taylor Dellinger. Clarkston is looking on a head on collision course October 15th at Lake Orion. North Farmington is very young and lost a lot of talent last season but does has some peaces to build around for Coach Jessica Condeci in Jenna Miller and Amy Doig for the season.