HALE - Aug. 24, 2009 - Two teams adjusting to the loss of a strong class of seniors clashed Tuesday in a non-conference volleyball match. Young teams are prone to bouts of inconsistency, and Oscoda's 25-17, 10-25, 25-12, 25-15 victory over Hale featured plenty of highs and lows on both sides of the net.

Each team had streaks of dominance that coincided with the opponent's collapse. That streakiness was best evident in the second and third games: Oscoda blew out to a 23-5 lead in Game 2 before settling for a 25-10 win, and Hale opened with an 11-1 run in the next game, saw Oscoda close to within 20-16 then finished with a 5-1 flourish.

The Owls broke open a tightly-contested fourth game with a 7-2 run to put the game and match away.

"You always hope for the win, and it was nice that we got that," said Oscoda coach Laura Franklin. "But tonight really taught us what we need to work on, specifically to call the ball."

The Owls' three returning starters -- Lelia Cotton, Megan Zarachowicz and Niki Shugart -- had strong games on the front line when they were able to get the ball in hitting position.

Hale, which graduated most of its front line power from a year ago, was at its best when extending volleys with its defense. Laura Sidebottom, Stacey Eno and Kelsey Reilly led the hitting on the front line.

"A lot of people graduated their big guns like we did," Franklin said. "Hopefully we'll be able to be competitive with everyone we play. It will take some time, but I think by the end of the year when we've jelled and are playing faster, we could do really well."

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Oscoda Stats: Stephanie Campbell 5 aces, 98 serve rec.; Lelia Cotton 1 ace, 8 kills; Chelsea Carraway 6 aces, 5 kills; Niki Shugart 3 kills, 2 aces; Megan Zarachowicz 3 kills, 3 blocks; Morgan Stweard 1 ace; Ashley Scott 15 assits, 2 aces.