The Saline Reporter
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Bedford bounced by Saline in five
Hornets come back from 2-1 deficit to edge former champs
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 1, 2007
Three times last week, the Saline volleyball team played a first-to-15 game with a match victory on the line.
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The Hornets took two of those three, and when one of those two sealed an epic five-game home win Thursday over traditional power Bedford, coach Courtney Huffman is willing to take it.
"I thought we played pretty well," she said. "We pulled two of them out and hit double-digits in all three. Each time we came out aggressive, which is so important (in first-to-15 games) because a swing of just a few points can make such a difference."
It made all the difference against Bedford, in a win that gave Saline a 2-0 record this season against the 2005 state champions.
The match got off to less than stellar start for the Hornets, however, as Bedford comfortably won Game 1 by nine, 25-16. Behind a balanced attack featuring all three of the Hornets' college-committed players — Nicole Whiddon, Kelsi Bitter and Kara Zawisza, who finished the match with 18, 14, and 15 kills, respectively — Saline fought back to grind out a tense Game 2 win, 26-24. Bedford retook control of the match with a 25-21 win in Game 3, but the determined Hornets took an 11-point win in game 4, 25-14, to force a winner-take-all Game 5.
That game belonged to the "aggressive" Hornets, who sent the Mules home after grabbing a 15-10 win. The victory improved Saline's record in full Southeastern Conference matches to 3-1.
Other Hornet leaders from the Bedford match included Sarah Cowen, who tied Zawisza for the team lead in digs with 16; Whiddon, who totaled eight solo blocks; and Jen Galbreath, who notched 53 assists in a new role as the team's setter.
The Hornets traveled to Adrian Saturday for the Maple Championships tournament. Saline put together a solid 5-3 game record in pool play, splitting their pair of games with Rockford, Adrian, and Mason and sweeping Napoleon.
That set up a quarterfinal rematch with Rockford in elimination play. Despite having lost Bitter to an ankle injury and dropping game 1 20-25, the Hornets advanced regardless, taking games 2 and 3 by scores of 25-19 and 15-9.
Next up were the hosts, who Saline had defeated in two tightly contested games at the Saline Invitational in early January. This time the Maples prevailed, but not without a challenge from the Hornets, who took Game 1 25-20 before falling 15-25 and 11-15 in Games 2 and 3.
The match split between the two teams and the narrow margins of victory might suggest that Saline and their SEC rivals are a pair of evenly matched teams, but Huffman believes it's her team that "should" win, all things being equal.
"They have one very solid, dynamic player, but I think we're a little stronger athletically," she said. "It just comes down to who's going to be prepared to play."
Whiddon led Saline in kills during the tournament with 41. Zawisza notched team highs in both service aces (15) and digs (37), while Jena Cooper added 33 digs as well.
Setting duties in Adrian were handled at different times by both Galbreath and Katie Stone, who has set for the team for the majority of the season. Huffman said she was impressed by Galbreath's play and expects both players to see time at the position for the foreseeable future.
"Fortunately, I have two players who can both pass the ball very well and play that position," Huffman said.
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