Lake Orion vs North Farmington, Girls Volleyball Preview

Written Tuesday October 9th, at 11:28 PM

Thursday night will be the final regular season home game for the Dragons volleyball team as they will host North Farmington. Lake Orion will close out the season on the road at arch rivals Oxford and Clarkston.

The ninth ranked Dragons used its depth and balance to beat Farmington. Behind Shannon Murdock and Melanie Heath’s nine kills each the Dragons won 25-19, 25-16, and survived a 26-24 game three. Dragons Liberio Gabby Kalugar had 16 digs in the contest for coach Ross Talbott's crew.

The Raiders are an interesting team, a good and disciplined team under Coach Jennifer Condeni. North Farmington defeated Troy on Tuesday night in five games 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 22-25, 15-11. The Raiders are led by their big two in Kaitlyn Schoeppner and Nicayla Joyce.

Schoeppner is the Raiders best player and the middle for their team. The 6.3 middle had 24 kills against Troy. She will be playing volleyball next season at Mississippi State. She is a match up nightmare against anyone.

Next up is Nicayla Joyce. Joyce is the Raiders second best player, a transfer from Birmingham Marian. She had 20 kills, six in the fifth game in their home win over Troy. Joyce brings energy and passion and can play either in the front or back row.

The Raiders also have some good players in Kaitlyn Kendall, who plays basketball at North Farmington along with libero Hannah Long.

BATTLE SPOT: The battle in the middle is going to be very interesting as two seniors will go at it in Lake Orion’s Sophie Murdock and North Farmington’s Kaitlyn Schoeppner. I think whoever wins this match up; up front will win the match.

KEYS TO A DRAGONS WIN: Sophie Murdock, Kayla Rockey, Hannah Murdock, Tess Marshall, and Melanie Heath must come ready to play especially against a big front line that North Farmington will pose. Also what’s key is the crowd, if the Dragon crowd gets involved like they did against Birmingham Seaholm then it could be a long night for North Farmington.

KEYS TO A RAIDERS WIN: The big four of Schoeppner, Joyce, Kendall, and Long must come ready to play. North Farmington must keep the Lake Orion crowd in check as well if they want to win this match with it's play, if they let them affect them they are in trouble. If the big four come ready to play then it could be a long night for the Dragons.

PICK: I think North Farmington going five games against Troy could be a problem in this match. Lake Orion went three games against Farmington on Tuesday night. I think Seniors night could be interesting as well and remember the Dragons lost last season to Clarkston on Seniors night, it won’t happen this year and the seniors will make sure of that. PICK: LAKE ORION IN FIVE.