Box Score Port Huron, Mich. – Thursday night, the 11th ranked Raiders defeated the Stars of Lansing Community College in straight sets to open up Region play and advance to the "Winner's Bracket" Final. The Stars and Raiders weren't separated by more than four points until the very end of the match with the top seed coming out 25-21, 25-22, 25-21 winners.
Neither team could find much rhythm in the opening set, exchanging point after point, and after six lead changes, a Kendra DeJonge kill finally put the Raiders up for good at 17-16. Lansing had many errors in the set which lead to very little offensive production, but the Raiders only had one hitting error with eight kills. LCC did get help from two Raider serving errors and three reception errors. Kayla Salyer had three kills and the set winning block to lead her squad to a 25-21 win.
Five more lead changes took place in the second set. Three straight Raider errors gave the Stars their biggest lead of the night, 15-12, but after a timeout the Raider offense turned it up a notch and earned their way to a 25-22 win. Nine of the Raiders 16 total kills of the set came after that timeout including four from DeJonge and the set winner from Breanna Wickerink.
DeJonge and Danielle Johnston had their best showing of the night with 11 kills and just two errors, hitting .350. Autumn Severn had 10 assists, a team best five digs and even threw down two big kills including one that put her squad up 23-20. Salyer added three blocks.
The relentless Stars, who fought back from late deficits in their first match of the tournament to beat Glen Oaks 25-13, 30-28, 27-25 didn't go down without a fight in set three vs. the Raiders. This time the Stars turned a 21-14 deficit into just a one point Raider lead, 22-21. That's as close as they would get though as the Raiders finished off the match with a Severn kill, a combined block by Johnston and Ally German, and then a block by Wickerink/German.
Statistical Leaders:
-Kills (32): DeJonge 10, Wickerink 7, Johnston 6, Salyer 5
-Assists (29): Severn 22, Johnston 2
-Aces (6): Severn 2, Mykayla Vallad 2, Jasmine Wellet 1, Kelsie Schultz 1
-Digs (49): DeJonge 13, Severn 9, Schultz 9, Johnston 6
-Blocks (9): Salyer 5, Wickerink 5, Johnston 4, German 4
What's next?
The Raiders won't play again until 8 pm, Friday November 2nd, against the 16th ranked Muskegon CC Jayhawks whom they have played three times so far this year. The Stars will play Kalamazoo Valley at 4 pm in a must win situation. LCC beat KVCC 3-0 in their first meeting, but in their last meeting it went five, with the Stars prevailing 18-16… If the Raiders are victorious they will advance to the championship match, Saturday at 1:30 pm.
Click here for the complete schedule and results, Regional Tournament.
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