Cardinals come back to beat Gladiators in 4 games

WAKEFIELD - If Megan Hagen ever decides to give up her volleyball job at Ontonagon, she may have a future as a psychic. She said before Tuesday's night game her team plays very well at times and then goes into a consistency funk and plays poorly. It happens every game.

Ontonagon had a nip-and-tuck battle going with Wakefield-Marenisco most of the first set but played with a sense of urgency towards the end and surprised the Cardinals with a 25-17 win.

But W-M hit the comeback trail and thumped the Gladiators 25-11, 25-12 and 25-18 in non-conference action at the Cardinal Gym on Tuesday

"Like I said, I'm not sure which team will show up," Hagen said. "We have our moments and sometimes they are moments of brilliance, but then we get flat feet and don't move our feet. We're not talking or communicating and we get bad passing, so the bottom line is we are very inconsistent.

"Now it's getting in our heads and we're thinking too much and being too technical. It's the snowball effect where one bad thing leads to another. We only have two seniors and we have to find a way to gain confidence. I'm not disappointed with our team, but we have to get over our inconsistency."

Ontonagon started out with Amy Polakowski serving two aces as the Gladiators went up 5-2. But W-M's Kassidee Yon served three-points, including her ace and a kill from Lauren Grace.

But the longer the set went on, the better Ontonagon played. Rebecca Karttunen was a one-woman show down the stretch as her two kills and an ace led Ontonagon to take the first game 25-17.

It was the Cardinals who did not play well in the first set and W-M coach Jessica Novascone said her team was showing its inconsistency.

"After the first set, I was concerned," Novascone said. "Our defense was slacking. We were slow on D and a lot of balls hit the floor that shouldn't have. We played skiddish. After that, we went out and played defense. When you pick up your defense, it picks up the offense. When the defense starts working hard, you can catch the other team off guard and you get consistent attacks at the net. That happened in the second, third and fourth sets."

Kassidee Yon got her team going in the second set by serving six straight points including an ace and a kill by Hallee Yon. W-M led 8-2.

When the Cardinals made two great saves on balls hit by Ontonagon and then won the point, W-M had an 11-4 advantage.

After another Grace kill and Kassidee Yon ace, Ontonagon mis-fired on four shots and W-M won the set, 25-11.

In the third set, Cardinal Cora Zorich went on a 10-point serving surge as W-M jumped out to a 15-5 lead. More good serving by Darienne Korpi increased the lead to 22-8 and the Cardinals finished the set with a 25-12 win.

Game four saw W-M steadily increase its lead as the game went on. The Cardinals seemed to get points from a number of players and the score went from 9-4 to 14-8. An ace down the middle by Karttunen narrowed the lead to 16-12, but Grace kept slamming kills and the Yon sisters kept firing aces.

Rachel Obradovich's kill finished the set and match at 25-18.

Karttunen led Ontonagon with nine kills and Polakowski had five service aces. Alyssa Preiss picked up 10 digs and Logan Preiss had 13 assists.

For the Cardinals, Hallee Yon had a big night with 16 kills and notched five aces. Grace wasn't far behind with 14 kills and five aces, while Kassidee Yon dished out 27 assists. Zorich had 11 digs off some strong attacks.

Novascone said many Cardinal players had good numbers across the board and W-M now has a 7-1 record.

"The team is jelling together," Novascone said. "The attitudes are positive. They don't get mad at each other. They get frustrated with themselves but not with other players. They are consistent players and I know what to expect from them. Hallee and Lauren are very consistent. Lauren always had it and now Hallee is really swinging away."