Fifth Ranked Lake Orion vs Birmingham Seaholm Volleyball Preview.

Written Wednesday October 3rd, at 12:25 AM

Thursday looks like it will be a wild and crazy atmosphere inside the Dragons Lair with two teams fighting at a chance of a Red crown as the fifth ranked Lake Orion Dragons will play the Birmingham Seaholm Maples.

Lake Orion struggled on Monday night against Rochester, winning the first match 25-13. However they lost 25-22 in the second game. The Dragons then outplayed the Falcons 25-14 in game three and then won game four 25-23. Lake Orion played to their competition again, a problem that has frustrated coach Ross Talbott.

The Dragons are the deepest team in the OAA this season. Lake Orion is led by seniors Sophie Murdock and Melanie Heath along sophomore Hannah Murdock and junior Tess Marshall and that’s not even the whole roster. The Dragons have a lot of talented players who can get the job done. 

Birmingham Seaholm also struggled on Tuesday night against Troy at home. The Maples lost the first two games 19-25, 17-25 but came back and won 26-24, 25-17, and in game five won 17-15. In game five, Seaholm had to overcome a 13-9 deficit to win that game over the Colts.

The Maples aren't short of talent either under coach Heather Lippert. Lippert called this team her best team in years and that's saying something since the Maples had Paige Neudenfelt who went to North Carolina. Seaholm is led by senior inside/outside hitter Erin Neudenfelt, who is the younger sister of Paige, pretty much she plays both inside and outside, she can get kills and aces for the Maples. Besides Neudenfelt. Seaholm is still loaded in talent in senior libero Andrea Gothard, Gothard is going to play volleyball at Central Michigan next season. Senior Kathy Quigley is a a dangerous inside hitter as well but the wildcards are Claire Meads, Madison Martin, Maddy Varlese, and Lisa White whom are also good players.

PREDICTION and KEYS:

BATTLE SPOT: I look at the battle spot at the libero position between Lake Orion junior Gabby Kalugar and Seaholm senior Andrea Gothard is going to be the critical point in this game. Both are very good defenders who sets up the ball very well for their interiors. I think who ever outshines the other will win this game.

KEYS:

LAKE ORION: The Dragons need to get the middle involved especially with Sophie Murdock and whoever it might be handing the ball to her. The Dragons have two good outside hitters in Tess Marshall and Hannah Murdock, if they can get that middle set and also get some good serving from the back end they will pull this one out.

SEAHOLM: The Maples are the cardiac Maples. Seaholm has to have its big three (Neudenfelt, Gothard, Quigley) step up once again along with some role players on their team. Meads had seven kills (four in game five.) Varlese had 27 assists while White had three kills against the Colts. The Maples are a different team on the road then at home. If Seaholm can ride this momentum they had against Troy then they have a chance to pull off the upset in Lake Orion.

PICK: The key is can Lake Orion get it’s middle going, if they can it will be a long night for Seaholm and also if the Dragons can come ready to play. If Lake Orion plays the same way it did against Rochester then they are in trouble against Seaholm. The Maples are a much better team than the Falcons. The key for the Seaholm is that they had some success at getting the ball to the outside for Neudenfelt, Meads, and Quigley in the last three games against Troy. Gothard will be the key in making sure the ball gets to the outside. The Maples have got to play their game if they want to win and keep the Dragon crowd out of the game. I think that game three is going to be very critical because the winner of game three has won the match. Seaholm won game three to start its rally against Troy, the same with Lake Orion against Troy and Rochester. I think the depth is going to be too much for Seaholm and Lake Orion will survive an instant classic. PICK: LAKE ORION IN FIVE GAMES.