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Wolves hit spike semifinals

C-N spills Onaway

Photo courtesy of Jared Greenleaf Carney Nadeau’s Liana Blahnik (9) looks to block a kill attempt from Onaway’s Malaurie McLean during the first set of a MHSAA Division 4 volleyball quarterfinal in Manistique on Tuesday.

MANISTIQUE — Carney-Nadeau earned its first trip to the MHSAA state volleyball semifinals with a thrilling five-set win here Tuesday in the quarter-finals over Onaway.

The C-N Wolves held off a hard-charging Onaway team by winning the fifth set. Getting up early in the final set was key, according to Carney-Nadeau coach Steve Kedsch.

“I told them to just be ourself.” said Kedsch after the 25-22, 23-25,25-20, 20-25, 15-9 conquest.

“When we are on the attack, we are a tough team to stop. We just need to get the ball to our setters and let them get to work. Keep chipping away.”

The Wolves went up 9-3 in the decisive set on two kills by Taylor Kedsch, an ace from Alanis Harris and a block kill from Liana Blahnik.

Onaway closed to within 14-9 in the fifth, before the last of Kedsch’s team-high 17 kills won the two-hour and 15-minute quarterfinal.

“This win is big for our program,” said Kedsch.

“I am very proud of how the girls responded in a tight match. This was two evenly matched teams playing at a high level tonight.”

The match featured back and forth action and C-N jumped out to a 1-0 lead by winning the opener 25-22.

Two solid service runs by Taylor Kedsch and four kills by lefty hitter Sandra Boulton led the Wolves attack in set one.

Onaway showed its competitiveness winning the second set 25-23.

The Cardinals held off a huge C-N comeback from 20-11 down to a 23-23 score, before winning the final two points on Wolves errors.

C-N went up 2-1, winning the third set 25-20.

Boulton continued her hits and had three more kills in the set.

Wolves’ middle blocker Ashlyn Harris was effective on defense forcing Onaway hitting errors up front in the third.

The match looked to be headed to an early verdict in four sets with Carney-Nadeau up 11-6 before Onaway’s Breya Domnke’s eight-point service run put the Cardinals up 14-13 on a kill by Calley Selke.

Onaway won 11 of the next 17 points to beat the Wolves i25-20, forcing the tie-breaker.

“It looked like Carney-Nadeau was going to win it in the fourth set, they had a big lead,” said Onaway coach Steve Watson.

“They have a nice team and were playing well and it looked like they were going to close the deal (in the fourth). We had a good comeback to win the fourth. And then made mistakes in the fifth set with our return service errors.”

Onaway’s senior hitter Selke set a school game record with 24 kills.

She also had 19 digs and two blocks. Setter Mallorie Neelis led the Cardinal offense with 39 assists.

Carney-Nadeau’s other stat leaders behind kill leader Kedsch included Bolton with 16 kills, Layla Blahnik-Thoune with eight kills and four aces and setter Talisha McCullough with 28 assists.

“Defensively we did a great job,” said coach Kedsch.

“I feel we do a good job in all aspects of the game. Tonight our defense was big to beat a good Onaway team.”

Carney-Nadeau next plays Leland in the semifinals Friday at 2 p.m. in Battle Creek.

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