Dragons Fall to Wolves in a tough five game match

Written Saturday November 3rd, at 4:15 PM

Sometimes dreams are made and sometimes dreams are never meant to be.

That’s what happened to the Lake Orion volleyball team against Clarkston.

The tenth ranked Dragons suffered a heartbreaking loss in the district finals to the second ranked Wolves in five games 25-21, 15-25, 25-17, 23-25, 10-15 at Romeo High School.

Lake Orion came from behind on six different occasions in the first set to beat Clarkston 25-21. The first set was led by Tess Marshall, Melanie Heath, Sophie Murdock, Hannah Murdock, and Rebecca Sylvain. Clarkston led 21-19. However after a Dragons timeout, Murdock then took over with a kill and the Dragons went on a 6-0 run to win the match.

Clarkston used its horses in the second game. Rachel Dickerson, Sarah Bullen, Brianna Frakes, Emily Popp, Kelly Konjarevich, and Katie Chadwell took advantage of several Dragons mistakes and good plays winning 25-15. Clarkston had a 10-1 run early giving them a 14-6 lead and eventually outscored the Dragons 11-9 tied the match at one a peace.

So now the match became a best of three.

The third game was all Lake Orion. The Dragons never trailed. Clarkston made three net errors leading to the Dragons rally. The Dragons never looked back after Heath's kill to making the score 25-17 and a two games to one lead for the Dragons.

The fourth set was tense drama. The match went back and fourth with kills and errors on both sides. The lead went back and fourth several times before Clarkston made it two point edge at 22-20 then the Dragons tied it up 23-23. Clarkston then got a kill from Bullen and then Chadwell's block gave the Wolves a 25-23 win, setting up game five.

The fifth game was tight with both team's seasons on the line. Clarkston took advantage early by going up 2-0 but Lake Orion responded by tying it up 2-2 then quickly the Wolves gained control behind Dickerson going up 10-6 and then 14-9. The last point was a side out giving Clarkston their sixth district championship in a row.

Murdock finished with 23 kills. Gabby Kalugar had 29 digs. Heath and Kayla Rockey had six blocks each for the Dragons.

Dickerson had 22 kills, seven in the fifth game. Emily Popp had 29 digs. Frakes had 39 assists for the Wolves

I thought both teams made mistakes with service errors and missed assignments but they did make some great plays, kills, digs, assists, you name it. I didn’t think Lake Orion did a good job containing Dickerson. Dickerson was a force all game and basically took over the match herself. The Dragons at times did a good job shutting down Katie Chadwell, Kelly Konjarevich, and their young players.

I also didn’t think that Clarkston did a good job stopping the short tips from Rebecca Sylvain and the kills from Murdock, Heath, and Marshall. Clarkston did a good job shutting down the Dragons middle in Sophie Murdock, Murdock was not her true self in the game at all.

I also thought that Clarkston would have tired legs after their five set game with Romeo and the low ceiling would favor Lake Orion but it wasn't meant to be.

It’s sad that someone had to lose this match. Both teams were in the state semifinals and were split up last season. These are two state powers going up against each other but there was nothing you can do about it.

Clarkston (52-6-1) will move on to the regional semifinals on Tuesday at Rochester against the Utica Eisenhower Eagles.

The Dragons in their first season under Ross Talbott finished the season at 47-18 and 8-1 in the Red. The future is very bright but they do lose Sophie Murdock, Rachel Livingway, Sabrina Cottrell, Kiana Brown, Sylvain, Heath, Kalugar, and Emillie Kipp. The Dragons will return Hannah Murdock, Marshall, Ally Shinouskis, Rachel Giwa, Hannah Sucicu, and Kayla Rockey for next season. The Dragons will be back next season and expect them to be one of the favorites in the Red yet again.

Sometimes it’s not meant to be and that's the sad part of it.