OSCODA - Jan. 26 2005 - The Oscoda volleyball team has improved as the season has worn on, but when the Owls ran up against perennial NEMC champ Pinconning on Wednesday, all bets were off.

The Spartans remained unbeaten in league play with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-11 victory.

"Pinny came to play, and we did not," Oscoda coach Linda Hennigar said. "We were either ahead of them or tied with them in score up until 10 points in each of the three games, but after that our game went south.

"We had trouble handling the aggressive hitting of the Spartans, which led to poor passes to our setters, off-targe sets to the hitters and rushed, off-balance hits.

"Our improved style of play just did not make it out on the court Wednesday night."

Leading Pinconning (2-0 NEMC) were Ashley Sanak with 25 assists and 14 digs; Kayla Fowler with 13 kills, 12 digs and 4 aces; Ashley Schwerin with 7 kills, 2 aces and 11 digs; Jackie Genow with 18 digs; and Alysa Rugenstein with 11 digs.

For the Owls (0-2), Melissa McCausey and Georgia Welch each had 3 total kills; Welch had 3 blocks; McCausey had 5 aces; Jill Sanderson had 14 service points and 2 assists; and McCausey had 8 digs.