Hoping to get a running start on the 2006-?07 season, the Clarkston Wolves served up the first game of the volleyball season on their home court on Dec. 11. Unfortunately, the defending co-champions of the Oakland Activities Association, Birmingham Seaholm had the same plan.
The Maples swept the match, 3-0, with 25-19, 25-22 and 25-20 victories.
At game point of the first contest, Alessa Cekauskas? kill won it for Seaholm.
Cekauskas was 21/23 hitting with 6 kills in the game.
‘She’s definitely the girl that anchors the team. If she has a bad match, we don’t win, she has to play well,? Seaholm Coach Craig Morrison said of Cekauskas.
‘She can play really well, she’s my steadiest all-around player.?
Clarkston blew a 17-5 lead in the second game. In the third game, the Wolves seemed poised to comeback after Amanda Byrd, who had five aces, came to serve trailing 22-10. She pulled the team within two, but the Wolves did not get any further.
Setter Emily Parkin added 25 assists and Juliann Gillespie had seven kills for Clarkston.
Clarkston Coach Kelly Avenall said there were areas the Wolves could work on.
‘There are obviously things we’ve got to work on. Our serve-reception needs some big improvement. Some of the hitters struggled tonight so that hurt us and we had a lot of unforced errors,? she said.
‘I think we struggled passing and our outside hitter struggled tonight,? Avenall added.
The presence of middle hitter Lindsay Sawyer helped startle the Maples, Avenall said.
?(She) did a good job of blocking up front and that helped us (because) it kind of forced them to hit around her and hit over the block so that’s something that we’re definitely going to have to keep working on.?
‘We did pretty good, we worked good as a team, but we need to hit the ball to the floor and work aggressively and make sure we’re working as a team,? Sawyer said.
Even in victory, Morrison found areas for his team to improve upon.
‘We won. This was our first match. We’re hitting the ball well, (but) tonight we didn’t serve-receive great and our sets weren’t as good, as I expected. We played this weekend, my setter set the ball great, but she struggled a little bit tonight.?
Getting off to a good start was important, Morrison said, because although the Maples finished 10-2 and tied with Farmington for the OAA title, the team’s 0-2 start left him unsure of how his team would perform.