Andover and Lake Orion firmly established themselves as the top two volleyball teams in the OAA II on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Dragons, it was the former, not the latter, that went undefeated at the league tournament (hosted by Stoney Creek) to win the outright championship.
Andover topped the Dragons twice on the day, to avenge their only regular season loss.
‘It’s very sweet for us to beat them, because they were the only team to beat us in the league.?
‘Lake Orion is a very, very good team,? Andover Coach Bob Hurdle said. ‘They attacked us really well off the serve. They probably played as smart a match against us as anybody has this season.?
In spite of the losses to Andover, Dragon Coach Bob Howey was impressed with his team, which got stronger as the day went on.
‘I think we stepped it up against them,? the coach said. ‘I think we raised our level. It’s the best we’ve played this year.?
The day for Lake Orion began with three-set wins over Stoney Creek and West Bloomfield in the best-of-three format. LO tied West Bloomfield for second in the OAA II regular season, but won the decisive set 18-16 on Saturday.
Then Andover won a 25-17, 25-17 battle with the Dragons, sending Lake Orion to the losers bracket, where they would await the winner of Waterford Kettering and Rochester.
‘The coaches wanted to get Rochester, and most of the girls wanted Kettering actually,? Howey said. ‘I’m glad we got a chance to play Rochester again.?
Rochester won in three sets, giving the Dragons a chance to get revenge on both teams that beat them in regular season play (West Bloomfield was the other).
Lake Orion faced game points in both sets with Rochester, but showed their resolve winning four of the final five points in game one and the final three points in game two for a 27-25, 27-25 victory.
That win set up another battle with Andover, but LO would need two victories to capture the title in the double-elimination format.
Things looked good early for the Dragons, who won the first set 25-23, but Andover responded with a 25-23 win of their own to send things to a third set.
Lake Orion battled back from two three-point deficits to tie the game at 9-all. After an Andover timeout, however, Hurdle’s squad showed why they hadn’t lost in league action since December, cruising to a 15-11 win and a celebration in front of the net.
It was Andover’s first league title since 1981, in Hurdle’s first go-around with the team (he left 1982 to coach at Oakland University, where he is the all-time winningest coach).
Andover’s one-two punch of Vineece Verdun and Emily Hoffiz had consecutive kills to close out both games two and three, but Howey and Hurdle agreed that it was everyone else that made the difference for Andover.
‘Their supporting cast played better,? Howey said, citing Andover’s passing as the main difference in the team from December to now.
‘We’re getting some other people to contribute,? Hurdle agreed, crediting freshman Jessica Prepolec and junior Stephanie Kazanjian, the team’s setter.
‘She touches the ball every time it comes over,? Hurdle said of Kazanjian.
Andover improved to 24-6-2 overall and the Dragon’s 3-2 record on the day brought their record up to 17-15-1.
The team was led by the 37 kills, 10 blocks, 2 aces and 31-of-31 serving from Ashley Bringard.
Kaitlin Denton added 38 kills on the day, while Sara Brown added 52 assists.
Alicia Roth had 31 digs, Jessical Bland had nine blocks and Cortney Kimmel was 48-of-50 serving with an ace.
Lake Orion has a few matches remaining before district action at Romeo in early March.
The team travels to invitationals at Northwood University and Andover, sandwiched around a home match next week versus Clarkston (a team they could also see at the district level).
‘It would be really nice if we go to these two tournaments and play like we did today,? Howey said, noting it’s not the wins and losses, but the effort of his team, that he’ll be monitoring the most.