A familiar foe came to town on Sept. 18, and after an extensive cat fight, the Oxford Wildcats out-clawed the Lapeer West Panthers in a five-game match.
Lapeer West won the first two games 25-18 and 25-21, but Oxford responded with wins of 25-23, 25-20 and 15-6 to defeat their feline rivals.
Oxford is now 3-0 in the Flint Metro League and 12-8-1 overall.
‘It wasn’t an easy defeat, as up-and-down play from the Wildcats allowed Lapeer West to win the first two games,? said head coach Kristi McDevitt. ‘Oxford finally woke up.?
The coach said that the catalyst in the Wildcats? win was junior Marissa Manzella, who began to singlehandedly shut down Lapeer West’s defense and offense–both with her hard hits and blocking.
‘Marissa stepping up [that night] was huge for her teammates,? the coach said. ‘Her plays on the court gave her teammates something to cheer about and then everything began to fall into place and they resembled the team I know they can be.?
Manzella finished the game with 11 kills and four blocks while senior captain Brittany Moncrieff continued her strong showings with 20 kills, 2 blocks and nine digs.
Junior defensive specialist Chelsea Kessler had 20 digs and sophomore setter Paige Felisky had 24 kill assists.
Earlier in the season on Sept 13, Oxford traveled to the Flushing tournament. They finished pool play at 2-1 by defeating Grand Ledge and Lakeville before losing to North Branch.
After pool play, the Wildcats advanced to the tournament’s silver division and beat Montrose before falling to Grand Ledge.
‘It was kind of disheartening to lose to a team we beat handily earlier in the day,? said McDevitt. ‘In defense of the girls, it was a long day and we had to sit four straight hours before playing in the silver division. It is hard to rebound after sitting that long, and the girls just lost motivation.?
Moncrieff had 33 kills, 11 blocks, four aces and 26 digs for the day while junior Keeona Ives had a great day with 28 kills, four aces, and 18 digs and Manzella had 10 kills and 13 blocks.
Felisky had 37 assists, three kills, and three blocks.
On Sept. 11, the Wildcats traveled to Clio and corralled the mustangs 25-7, 25-13 and 25-8. In that match, Moncrieff had five kills, one block, and nine digs, while junior middle blocker Manzella had three kills and two blocks.