The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Saline clutch in crunch time
Hornets pull out pair of two-point victories to edge Chelsea on road
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 8, 2007
If there were any questions about the Saline volleyball team's ability to win tight games, they may have been answered last Thursday against Chelsea.
Advertisement
The Hornets won back-to-back 26-24 thrillers in Games 3 and 4 to take the road match three games to one and improve to 4-1 in full Southeastern Conference play.
"It was exciting," said coach Courtney Huffman. "When it's tight like that, you have to stay focused and that's something we've worked on in practice. It was great to see that go from practice to the court."
Kara Zawisza led the Saline attack with 12 kills, helped by setter Jen Galbreath's 55 assists. Nicole Whiddon recorded nine solo blocks while Zawisza (with 13), Sarah Cowen (10), and Galbreath (9) led the team in digs.
The Hornets started the match with a tight 25-22 win in Game 1, but the Bulldogs responded with a 25-17 win in Game 2. Saline's poise down the stretch made the difference in the next two games, however, to give the Hornets momentum heading into Saturday's Novi Invitational.
Saline took its first four games of the tournament's first-to-21 pool play with relative ease, defeating Harrison 21-18, 21-11 and Trenton 21-17, 21-13. Milford handed the Hornets a pair of tough losses 15-21 and 13-21, but Saline bounced back to win its first game against Walled Lake Northern 21-16.
Northern took Game 2 21-13, setting up what would become a pressure-packed Game 3, which the Hornets took in thrilling fashion — again — by a score of 15-13.
"We've improved a lot in that area from the beginning of the year until now," Huffman said. "Now, if it gets into Game 3 and it's a close match, I think we have the upper hand."
That win advanced Saline to a quarterfinal match against the state's No. 8-ranked team, Bloomfield Hills Marian. The Hornets took Game 1 25-20 to put themselves in position for an upset. But the Warriors took control in Game 2 and won going away 25-12 and 15-6.
Whiddon led the team in both kills (28) and solo blocks (15). Galbreath recorded 36 assists and 29 digs, while Zawisza added 21 kills and 30 digs. Other standout performers included Katie Stone (28 assists), Susan McDonough (24 digs) and Kacy Hartman (11 solo blocks).
Saline's solid play came despite a number of injuries –– most notably to senior Kelsi Bitter –– and roster changes that saw Huffman call up two junior varsity players (McDonough, a sophomore and freshman Jen Finkbeiner) and dramatically increase the role of Hartman, a junior.
Huffman was more than pleased with how those players filled their new roles over the weekend.
"Even if her numbers don't necessarily reflect it, I would have called (Hartman) our player of the game against Chelsea," she said. "She was very strong in the middle for us and stayed aggressive. They all came in and did a good job for us."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
