Written Friday November 18th at 12:34 AM
In the terms of the late Randy "Macho Man" Savage. "Oh Revenge is Sweet"
Revenge was the term the Dragons volleyball team had in mind.
The seventh ranked Dragons put the hammer to the medal on Thursday night in the MHSAA Class A State semifinals in Battle Creek as they defeated the fourth ranked Wolves 25-17, 16-25, 25-16, and 25-22. The Dragons made up for that loss on October 18th when the Wolves beat the Dragons in five games on Seniors night in Lake Orion.
"This is so much better. Obviously, we could care less about our league championship now. We’re going to the STATE championships. It’s like such a bigger deal than leagues. It’s awesome," Lake Orion senior Shannon Murdock said to reporters. "Every single game that we win, just feels so much better, because we’re that much closer to winning states. And we just have one game left, and hopefully, we can pull it out."
Lake Orion is now 54-12-3 will now advance and face the second ranked Rockford Rams (59-8) on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM for the Class A State Championship at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek. The second ranked Rams behind two Big Ten recruits swept the tenth ranked Temperance Bedford Kicking Mules in three games 25-22, 25-14, 25-20. The Dragons are the first team in the Oakland Activities Association to have a chance at a State Championship in volleyball. Ferndale was the last team to do so in 1976 but the Eagles weren't a member of the OAA. The OAA was formed in 1994.
Dragons Coach Bob Howey along with his staff dressed up in shirt and ties for the match up with Clarkston will likely wear it again on Saturday. "I've said this before, but at the end of last year, we knew we had a special group coming back. And we talked about what we could accomplish with that, and the rest of the team," Howey said to reporters. "This was our goal, and we've made it this far although I don’t think anyone thinks we’ve reached the final goal yet.
Rockford is 2-1 against the Dragons this season The Dragons and Rams have played each other in two tournaments. The first one was in the East/West showcase in Wixom. Rockford won that showdown but most notably both teams met in the Portage Central tournament in Portage. The Dragons won the pool play match over the Rams but Rockford won the tournament by beating Orion in the finals of that tournament. "They are 1-2 against us so I think it’s our turn again," Howey added to reporters about facing Rockford again.
In the first set the Dragons controlled tempo. They dominated the Wolves early by going up 16-8 then Clarkston and Lake Orion went 9-9 in the frame. The Dragons outplayed the Wolves winning 25-17, giving the Dragons a 1-0 lead.
In the second set it was role reversal. The Wolves dominated the Dragons early by going on a 6-2 run. Orion answered by tying the score up 9-9. However the Wolves responded by going on a 16-7 run to close out the second set 25-16 tying the set 1-1.
In the third set the Dragons controlled the game by going on a 6-1 run. At one point the score got out of hand that the Dragons led 20-10. Lake Orion won the third game 25-16, the win gave the Dragons a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set was drama, Clarkston built a 7-4 lead then Lake Orion answered by overcoming a 17-15 lead and taking a 20-18 lead. However the Wolves answered by taking a 21-20 lead before Howey called a timeout. After the timeout the Dragons rolled after that, outscoring Clarkston 5-1, taking the match in four games.
The Dragons were led by senior Liz Kalguar's 16 kills and 19 digs. Junior Sophie Murdock had 11 kills and six blocks. Sophie's older sister Shannon had 14 kills. Seniors Dana Schrauben (29 assists) and Gwen Motley (23 assists) combined for 52 assists on the night and senior liberio Maddie Hutchinson had 45 digs to lead the green attack.
The Wolves (56-6) were led by senior liberio Maddie Lightfoot who had 31 digs while junior Kaley Konjarevich added 13 kills for the blue and yellow.
"I just feel like Orion was on top of their match. They rarely made mistakes, and when they did, they didn’t make mistake upon mistake. They made one mistake, and then they’d answer back with five great attacks at us," Clarkston coach Kelly Avenall said to reporters. "They brought all their firepower tonight. Swinging hard. We struggled to pass, and when we could pass, we struggled to attack. It just wasn’t a good combination for us tonight, playing down, and them playing up. It was tough."
The Dragons live on and play another day on Saturday. Tonight the Dragons earned revenge now they have a chance to be the best team in the state.
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