Senior Jenna Coates took action ran all the way to the back ? she was not going to let a point slip through her team’s fingers.
The girls varsity volleyball team was playing against Troy in the Ladywood Livonia Quad and they blocked the ball from Troy’s hit over the net.
The Lady Colts hit the ball from the block and sent it over the net. Clarkston’s defense reached to pass it back but the ball continued to travel.
‘I had counted it as a point for Troy and the whole bench started yelling,? said Coach Kelly Avenall.
She looked and saw Coates running to the back wall, hitting the ball and putting it into Troy’s territory and unable to be returned – scoring the point for the Wolves.
‘Jenna played outstanding defense,? said Avenall about the first few weeks of competition. ‘She is just playing with intensity and is bringing all of us up right now.?
The girls won five sets and lost two during the day, bringing their record to 7-2.
‘We had a slow start. We played Ladywood first, we beat them the first game and lost the next two,? said Avenall. ‘We had a lot of errors. It was a team I think we should have beaten. It was a good learning experience. Some of my players are younger and played young against them.?
They won the first set 25-19, and lost 25-21 and 15-13.
They played Livonia Churchill and won both sets, 25-21 and 25-17, and beat Troy 25-15 and 25-21.
‘Livonia has a great program so that was a great win for us. We had things together at that point,? said Avenall. ‘Troy was a great morale victory for us because Troy beat us in regionals last year. They didn’t lose a lot of players and we were expecting them to give us a lot. They could have been off, but it was a huge victory.?
Coates had 43 digs, juniors Allison Reis had 21 kills and 24 digs and Jessica Frakes had 21 digs.
The girls played in the Oxford Quad on Tuesday and are set to play their first league game against Birmingham Seaholm on September 8.
‘Seaholm lost a really big hitters last year, but they had a couple young players that I know will step up for them this year,? said Avenall. ‘Every league game we play is tough.?
JV plays at 5:30 p.m. at the away game, varsity follows.