SAULT STE. MARIE - Feb. 11, 2006 - Oscoda's volleyball team came home with one victory in four tries at Saturday's Lake Superior State University Invitational in Sault Ste. Marie, playing competitive ball in three of four matches while nearly making the tourney semifinals.

The Owls opened with a 20-25, 25-17, 15-11 victory over Pickford, lost to Korah (Canada) 18-25, 16-25), fell in bracket play to Boyne City 15-25, 25-20, 9-15 and lost to St. Basil (Canada) 23-25, 25-11, 8-15.

"We were much more competitive this weekend," said Oscoda coach Linda Hennigar. "We came close to making it to the semifinals of the tournament but came up short in the third game against Boyne City.

"We still struggle in the errors department -- when we need someone to step up and change the momentum to our side of the net, just the opposite occurs and we string several errors together, which really takes the game out of our reach."

Other than the Korah match, the Owls forced each match to three games and had a legitimate chance to win.

"That is an improvement for us," Hennigar said.

Leading the Owls were Deanna Boughner with 22 kill spikes and four blocks, Jill Sanderson with 42-of-44 serving, five aces, 36 assists and 18 digs; Kori Copus with 28-of-31 serving and five aces; Arielle Beliveau with 21-of-21 serving; and Emily Schwedler with 15 assists. The Owls also had one of their better serve-receive performances with a team percentage of 74.3.

The Owls travel to Ogemaw Heights on Wednesday for their final regular-season NEMC match.