GAYLORD - Jan. 14, 2006 - The Oscoda volleyball team didn't have the day it hoped for at Gaylord on Saturday, being swept by all four opponents the Owls faced.

Oscoda fell to Pellston 8-25, 9-25; lost to Gaylord 18-25, 9-25; lost to Cedarville 22-25, 8-25; and lost to Escanaba 13-25, 9-25.

It was a disappointing outing," said Oscoda coach Linda Hennigar. "We knew the competition would be tough ... but I had expected us to be more competitive than we were. The first games of the Cedarville and Gaylord matches were the only games that I felt we played fairly well and then we still were not as sharp as we can be.

"We had actually had a pretty good week at practice with individual players showing some real improvement in their playing skills. Although a couple of players did show improvement in tournament play as a team we are just not improving our competitve level. By this point in our season we should not be making the mental mistakes on the court that we are committing."

Leading the Owls were Deanna Boughner with 14 kills, and 16-of-17 serving; Emily Schwedler with 10 assists; Jill Sanderson with 20-of-21 serving, two aces and 13 assists; Kori Kapus with 16-of-19 serving five aces and nine digs; and Riley Shelton with 21 digs.

The Owls' successfully played 69 percent of their opponents serves, an improvement over previous matches.

"Our serve receive stat showed improvement and that phase of our game is no longer our weakest area," Hennigar said. "Now we have to focus on our defensive passing accuracy. We hit the ball fairly well but you can't get to the hitters of you can't pass the ball up to the setter."

The Owls dropped to 2-20-2 after the day's action.