“We wanted to try to play a clean game,” said Sheffield head coach Melissa Lemay. “When you’re not playing another team that does not have as consistent attacks, you can’t really work on a lot of your defense, but you have to be ready to play any defense. I think offensively we were given a lot of free balls which allowed us to run our offense quite a bit, which is good.”

Seniors Kadence Steffan and Kassidy Orinko picked up right where they left off last season, with the former recording 18 assists, while the latter racked up 10 kills and three blocks.

Lemay attributes the team’s first win mainly to the cohesiveness and team chemistry that has both grown with the strong leadership of not only Steffan and Orinko, but juniors Madison Connolly and Emily Davidson as well.

“This group of girls is the closest-knit group in a long time for me,” said Lemay. “I think that they like each other, they trust each other, and they’re working for each other. In the past I think there’s been a little bit of what can I get, and now it’s more what can we do to get better.”

Times Observer photo by Cody Elms Sheffield’s Emily Davidson returns in the second set, as the Wolverines dominated Forest Area.

Despite the lopsided win from the start, Lemay was adamant with her girls to not let up.

“I told them it didn’t matter if were winning 24-2, that we cannot let up,” said Lemay. “We’re not going to be able to do that against other teams. So, you’re playing hard, playing to win, and playing for the most points, and trying to prevent the other team from getting any points. I feel like in the first game our intensity was a little bit low, but then I feel like it got better.”

Sheffield will face two tougher challenges next week, hosting Brockway on Tuesday, and Kane on Thursday.