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The Blazers came out of pool play in first place which paired them up with East Jordan who came out second place in their pool. Beating East Jordan took three games with scores of 25-14, 23-25 and 27-25.

ÒI think by this point in the day my kids were tired, 8 games of volleyball can be pretty exhausting Coach Deanna Royston saidÓ. ÒWe were very excited to make it into the championship game, but physically with a 15 minute break between games we were out restedÓ.

The championship game ended with a 2 game loss to Roscommon with scores of 25-17 and 25-14. Team Captains Kaiti Jones and Megan Dunn received All-Tourney honors on the day. The blazers were led by Dunn with 51 assists, 16 kills and 6 aces and Jones for a field goal and a 15-14 Blazer lead. Jeff Keyser from East Jordan unleashed a three ball and again the Red Devils moved on top at 17-15. The frantic play had made for a detour around Chris ÒCrossroadsÓ Keller until just before half when he tallied to tie the score at 17-17.

Both squads came out after the half time intermission as if they had spent the interlude shivering in the parking lot. Three minutes elapsed before the Red Devils scored to take a 19-17 lead. Wallace started the thawing process for the Blazers with a free throw. The conversion sparked a 17 point run that was followed by contributions from Stanley ÒSteamerÓ Demo, Kasza, and Keller which pushed KalkaskaÕs advantage to 34-19. East Jordan served notice that they still intended to make a game of it by scoring six unanswered of their own to finish the third quarter down 34-25.

Leitow opened the fourth quarter for Kalkaska with a hard drive to the hoop to take a 36-25 lead. The game bogged down to a series of fouls and missed free throw opportunities before Steve ÒBuy a VowelÓ Bonofiglio converted on a steal and lay in to make the score 40-28. Continued hacking and foul line escapades were finally halted when ÒSwervinÓ Alex Swoverland dished to Heller for a 43-33 Blazer advantage. An East Jordan three pointer was countered sharply with another gutsy Krause drive and lay up to make the score 45-36. The Red Devils countered but Krause replied with another hard fought body blow to make the score 47-38.

Fouls again slowed the game to a pedestrian canter but the pace worked for the Red Devils who cut the Blazer lead to 49-46 with 1:22 left in the contest. Swoverland made one of two free throws and East Jordan failed to convert. Demo cleaned up two more free throws to push the advantage to 52-46. A Daneff three pointer for the Red Devils cut the Kalkaska lead to 52-49 with 0:29 left in regulation.

Swoverland converted a foul shot to push Kalkaska closer to victory at 53-49. An ill advised foul by the Blazers benefited the Red Devils but again poor execution allowed for only one free throw and a margin of 53-50. Leitow and Swoverland each connected on a free throw and the Blazers held on for a 55-50 triumph. The game was won in an ugly but effective manner.