Hornets Slam into Conference Play

The Saline Hornets volleyball team travelled to Bedford to participate in the Southeastern Conference Red Jam on Wednesday night. The competition, which consists of five SEC conference teams playing round-robin style, saw Saline finish the day with a respectable 4-1 record.

“When you go four and one, you can’t complain about it. I think we did some things very well in the matches today,” said head coach Lisa Shea.

The Hornets opened up the festivities by beating Huron 25-13 in the opening game and 25-17 in the second to wrap up the match. Their next match, against Skyline, started off rough, but the Hornets rebounded nicely to win 25-23 and 26-24.

Bedford came third and handed Saline their only loss of the day. The Kicking Mules came out firing and won 25-19 and 25-15; Saline had a hard time getting their feet under them during the match. Saline bounced back and took care of Monroe, 25-17 and 25-11. The Hornets finished by ousting Pioneer 25-14 in the opening game and 25-20 in the finale.

The defense was at the fore all day for the Hornets. 

Ashley Richmond led the team with 32 digs and Marissa Owens added 27 digs of her own.

Offensively, the team played well, but need to work on consistency, according to Coach Shea. Owens and Ani Agbabian led the offensive push with 24 kills each, followed by Jenna DeBest and Jess Wolma’s ten kills apiece.  Wolma added a solid 10 aces serving and 13 blocks from the middle blocker position.

“I thought our ball control was pretty good, but we were a little inconsistent on the offensive side. It’s the beginning of the season, and these are things we will continue to work on,” said Shea.

The Hornets continue their season with the Saline Quad on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

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