The Wolverines dominated much of the first two sets, however during the third set things began to get messy according to Sheffield head coach Melissa Lemay. Sheffield came into the night’s matchup down several players due to illness, resulting in Lemay having to put players into spots they may not be as comfortable.

This combined with some new offensive schemes resulted in some trying moments late in the third set that saw the Wolverines trailing on two different occasions. However, late strong serves by Kassidy Orinko and perfect touched points scored by Kadence Steffan and Peyton Wotorson both in the far corner sealed the win.

“We’ve been working on running different types of offenses,” said Lemay. “Things that are off-speed. Whether it is a shoot set or one ball. We’re just trying to mix it up. If every ball is high and outside, then they know where the middle blocker knows where she needs to block. A couple of our mistakes today were just trying some things. Whenever you’re working on anything knew you’re bound to have some mistakes. I just tell the girls you gotta keep working.”

Lexi Goldthwaite had eight kills, while Orinko who spent much of the night diving all over the court had nine aces and five blocks. Kadence Steffan continued to quietly put up another strong performance with 27 assists and 11 digs while going 20 of 21 from the service line, five of which were aces.

Times Observer Photo by Cody Elms Kassidy Orinko putting it all on the line diving to prevent a Cardinals point Monday night.

“Kassidy served super strong,” said Lemay. “She has gone through some hit and miss with her jump serve. There’s times where she’ll hit a couple in the net, and she’ll down serve the rest of the night. I thought Lexi well in the middle. Kadence is just all over the place. She just likes to go about her business, doing her job, doing her thing, and I think that’s why she’s so good at it. She’s not out there for the flare. She puts her boots on every day and goes to work and gets it done.”

Sheffield junior varsity fell in two 13-25 and 23-25.

The Wolverines will continue their push for a playoff spot Wednesday with Johnsonburg at home followed up Thursday by hosting Ridgway for Senior Night.