BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Lady Hitters dominated the court on Saturday as they defeated five teams to become champions of the Marian Elite Volleyball tournament.
“I felt like we were in a slump and not performing up to our best potential,” admitted Kelly Pinner, Clarkston Varsity Volleyball Head Coach. “Saturday they turned it around.”
The tournament had eight teams which are state-ranked or have an honorable mention. They started off with pool play with a loss to North Branch and wins over Anchor Bay and Marian.
They moved on to the quarterfinals where they defeated Birmingham Seaholm before going on to face Lake Orion semifinals, who they lost to at the end of September, 3-2. This time they beat their rivals, 25-16, 25-20.
“It’s definitely something that’s going to help us moving forward knowing that this is a team we can beat,” Pinner said. “We know we will face them in districts if we get past the first round – though Oxford is going to be tough. It definitely gives us some confidence moving forward.”
The girls beat Marian for a second time to win the championship game, 25-20, 30-28.
“It was a great tournament,” said Pinner.
Junior Abbey Malinowski had 63 kills, four aces and six blocks during the tournament. Senior Sarah Austin had 39 kills and six aces and junior Kayla Luchenbach had 22 blocks.
The Lady Wolves also defeated two OAA Red foes with wins over Bloomfield Hills and Oxford leading up to the tournament.
During senior night last Thursday they beat Oxford in close games, 3-1.
“It was a great win,” Pinner said. “Oxford is a really great team. They were really scrappy on defense and I think maybe we weren’t expecting that.”
Each game was close for the two teams as they were points within each other, battling for the lead and the win.
The Lady Wolves won the first game, 25-19. The Wildcats had a four point lead halfway through and with serves from Kayla Miller and hits from Malinowski, Austin and Grace Kraft the girls were able to pull ahead and build distance in points.
They battled for the final point. Austin and Luchenbach hit it over the net and Oxford quickly blocked them from getting a point. The next touch came from Austin and the hit fell into the middle of the court for Clarkston’s final point.
Oxford won the next game by three points, 25-22,
The third game started with both teams points within each other. A spark fired in the Wolves when Oxford received a point from a referee’s call after Madi Jidas made a defensive play.
“She picked up the ball six inches off the ground. It wasn’t even a pancake. Everyone in the gym thought it was a great defensive play,” said Pinner.
Clarkston answered back with a swing from Austin and winning the point back.
“It did spark us the entire game,” said Pinner, about the 25-13 win in the third game.
The Lady Wolves finished taking the fourth game, 25-20. Malinowski had 20 kills, Austin had 14 kills and Jidas had 32 digs.
“Abbey had some great swings tonight that really helped us,” Pinner added. “Sarah did a great job swinging for us, too. I think we picked up our service even our defense later in the first game.”
The Lady Wolves opened the week with a 3-2 win over Bloomfield Hills, (23-25, 25-13, 20-25, 27-25, 16-14), Oct. 4.
Malinowski had 22 kills, Austin had 16 kills and Miller had three aces and two blocks.
The girls go to a Tri-meet at Seaholm on Thursday where they will play the hosts and Goodrich. Then, they battle in Beast of the East on Saturday.
“It will give us some good competition going into Beast of the East,” said Pinner. “Beast of the East is probably the best tournament you can play in all season long. We are looking forward to that and having a good day Saturday. “

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