Article posted by The Macomb Daily (11/3) by Chuck Klonke

Original URL: https://www.macombdaily.com/2022/11/03/olivia-dobbs-leads-regina-to-district-volleyball-victory-over-lutheran-north/ 

Pictures of the game by George Spiteri: https://www.macombdaily.com/2022/11/03/photo-gallery-of-reginas-district-volleyball-victory-over-lutheran-north/

Losing is a word that’s never been part of Olivia Dobbs’ vocabulary.

That’s why Regina’s senior outside hitter spoke up when the Saddlelites fell behind 23-20 in the fourth set of their Division 2 district volleyball semifinal Wednesday with host Lutheran North.

“It was amazing that we were able to come back from that deficit,” Dobbs said after Regina’s 25-13, 16-25, 25-19, 26-24 win. “Normally, we get down on ourselves, but I told my team that we’ve got to keep going. It’s all about runs. Their setter got a bunch of runs on us with her serve-receive. We knew we had to fight back and we did just that.”

Saddlelites coach Laura Papa wasn’t surprised that Dobbs had a hand in Regina finishing the fourth set on a 6-1 run.

“She’s super competitive,” Papa said. “She wants to win all the time. There is no off button for her. She’s a great leader. I have a group of seniors who are all great leaders. I’m glad they kept calm because my heart was fluttering.”

Competitiveness comes naturally for Dobbs.

“It’s always go, go, go,” she said. “I don’t like to lose. Nobody likes to lose but both my brothers have won football state championships (for De La Salle) so I’m trying to meet up to their standards.”

Both teams expected a tight match. When the Mustangs and Saddlelites met earlier this year the match went five sets with Regina winning the fifth 17-15.

“This match was like the first time we played,” Papa said. “We rolled the first two sets, but they took the next two and we came back in the fifth. I’m glad we kept it to four this time.”

Dobbs’ hitting dominated the first set. She had four kills to help Regina jump out to an 11-4 lead.

The second set belonged to North with freshman standout Emma Rosenow making her presence felt with four kills.

“We’ve had situations like that all year where we’ve come back,” said coach Paul Drdul. “That’s one of the things I love about them. It doesn’t matter how bad we get beat in that first set, we can flush it and really turn it on after that.”

The third set was close all the way. North cut the Regina lead to 19-17 on kills by Rosenow and Ava Acre, but the Saddlelites responded with a kill by Kamrynn Harvey and two ace serves by Calista Mastry to stretch the lead to five points.

“Lutheran North is a great team. They were one of our toughest competitors all season,” Papa said. “We were coming off a tough loss last week that took the wind out of our sails so we really wanted this.”

Papa said that a key to the win was Regina’s serving.

“When our serves are hitting, they’re hard to return,” she said.

This was Drdul’s first year coaching Lutheran North and he was pleased with the way the team responded.

“Taking over a team for the first year is never easy, so the things we were able to do this year were really special,” he said. “They’ve battled all year long. That’s all we can ask.”

Dobbs led Regina with 13 kills and had nine digs. Harvey was a force at the net with 11 kills and four blocks. Toni DeCasas had nine kills and four blocks. Ella Sikorski had 12 digs and Brooke Bobowski finished with four blocks, nine digs and 27 assists.

Rosenow’s 13 kills led Lutheran North. Acre had five kills and six blocks. Emma Leinberger contributed 24 assists, 12 digs and four kills. Mia Newton had 18 digs and 29 receptions, while Kaitlin Hetherington had 11 digs and four receptions.

Regina will face Lamphere, which defeated Michigan Collegiate in three sets, for the district championship on Friday at 7 p.m.