OSCODA - Dec. 17, 2005 - The Oscoda volleyball team split two matches at its home invitational on Saturday, losing four of their six contests but showing considerable improvement over their season-opening tourney the previous weekend.

The Owls split with AuGres-Sims 25-14, 22-25 and Standish-Sterling 21-25, 25-22. Oscoda absorbed losses to Whittemore-Prescott 15-25, 15-25, Alpena 19-25, 13-25, Gladwin 14-25, 15-25 and Ogemaw Heights 21-25, 21-25.

"Overall our play for the tournament showed improvement over the tournament last weekend," said Oscoda coach Linda Hennigar. "Our serve receive showed improvement, as did our offense. We still have trouble playing well consistently - we play aggressively both on defense and offense for a period of time and then fall apart and become our own worst enemy."

Leading the Owls on the day were Deanna Boughner with 23 kill spikes, 1 tip kill, 10 blocks, 29-of-30 serving and 16 digs; Chelsea Sisk with 13-of 14 serving; Emily Schwedler with 11 assists and four blocks; Jill Sanderson with four kill spikes, 41-of-43 serving with four aces and 30 assists; Katie Kapus with 11 kills and seven aces; Riley Shelton with nine digs; Laurie David with seven digs; Arielle Beliveau with 35-of-38 serving and seven aces; and Margaret Negro with 12 kill spikes, four tip kills, and five blocks.

"We still have a lot of work to do to become the team we are capable of becoming," Hennigar said. "But I feel we are at least headed in that direction."

The Owls (1-10-2) are off until they open North East Michigan Conference play on Jan. 4 at home against Whittemore-Prescott.