BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Spikers opened the their season with a mix of wins and losses.
The Clarkston Varsity Volleyball team opened the season on Tuesday against Notre Dame Prep, Lake Orion and Oxford and NDP’s quad.
“It is a pretty tough opening day,” said Kelly Pinner, head coach. “Orion is defending state champs and Notre Dame Prep is always a solid program. Oxford looks like they are starting off the year well. Also, they had a good day on Saturday. It is definitely going to be some competition but that’s good – that’s what we like.”
The Wolves posted a 24-14 and 25-20 wins over Notre Dame Prep, and lost to OAA Red foes Lake Orion, 25-18, 25-15; and Oxford, 25-23, 25-20.
Before going into the quad, Pinner said the competition to help to see where the team is at after close to two weeks of practice.
“Right from the beginning of the year it’s going to tell us where we are, how we stack up against the best teams in the state, and hopefully we will be able to see our strengths and weaknesses coming out of Tuesday and give us things to work on for the rest of the year,” she explained.
The Wolves head to Detroit Country Day on Thursday to play Detroit Country Day and Seaholm.
“We saw Seaholm at our scrimmage. They have a solid team,” Pinner said. “They have a great outside hitter. Detroit Country Day we actually hardly ever see so this is exciting to see a new team. It’s been years if at all we have played them. I am pretty excited about playing somebody different, seeing different things there.”
Next Tuesday they play the annual quad against Flushing, North Branch and Oxford, which Flushing is hosting this year.
“North Branch always produces great teams year in and year out,” Pinner said. “Flushing, they are up their in the preliminary state rankings. Again, we’ve got a solid schedule.”
She added the schedule helps the girls get ready for the OAA Red league and the post-season.
“It’s our goal all the time – play the toughest competition we can so we can get ready for our tough league and just to get ready for that end of the season,” she said.
The Wolves have solid returners coming back to this year’s team including senior outside hitter Jordan Newblatt and three-year starter junior outside hitter Claire Nowicki.
Pinner added she is expecting good things from both of them this year.
“We have a pretty solid defense – the Jidas sisters – Summer and Skyelar, and Abbey Tolmie, are all returners in defense in our back court,” she added. “They all bring some different things, some different skill sets to us that are going to be helpful. We have a returning middle, Sydney Hasenfratz, who saw some time at the end of last year and has improved a lot. I think we are going to see some good things out of her, too.”
The varsity team is ranked sixth on Prep Dig’s top 15 teams in Division 1 as of Aug. 23.
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Clarkston JV Volleyball opened the season by winning the Lake Orion Junior Varsity tournament on Saturday. They finished with a 6-0 record, going 12-0 in sets. The Wolves beat Hartland in the Gold finals.

Clarkston opened the week on Tuesday at a quad at Lake Orion against the Dragons, Oxford and North Branch. They head to North Branch on Tuesday, Sept. 3 where they will play North Branch, Oxford and Flushing in another quad.
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The Clarkston Freshman Volleyball team finished second in the Gold Division at the Novi High School Tournament. They lost to Northville in the final. The Wolves opend the week on Tuesday with a quad at Oxford against the Wildcats, Lake Orion and Notre Dame Prep.
They head to Oxford again on Tuesday, Sept. 3 for another quad where they will play Oxford, North Branch and Flushing.

  Clarkston Volleyball, Volleyball