(New Buffalo, MI) - The New Buffalo girls’ volleyball team finished in third place in their conference tournament.

 

The winner of the Berrien Cass St. Joseph tournament on Saturday was Michigan Lutheran School, which upset state ranked Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School in a two set sweep.

 

The tournament was played at New Buffalo High School.

 

Bruce Molineaux, head coach of the Lady Bison, said his team played well but was not quite up to par especially on defense from Meagan Fatter playing with a back injury.

 

 

“She didn’t play as well as she normally does,” he said.

 

He said setter Riley Tertel was also a little under the weather on the court.

 

The Lady Bison opened the tournament with a close two set victory over Eau Claire then lost to Michigan Lutheran with each set decided 25-21.

 

New Buffalo trailed by two points late in each set but Michigan Lutheran scored a majority of the final deciding points.

 

“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Molineaux said.

 

New Buffalo (23-12-3) went on to easily defeat Grace Christian then lost their final match in three sets to River Valley.  The first two sets against the Mustangs went down to the wire but New Buffalo lost the deciding set 15-5.

 

Offensively, the Lady Bison were led by Josie Humphrey and Benita Puskinigus who scored 20 and 19 points respectively on kills during the entire tournament.

 

Cassidy Saunders contributed 14 kills and led the defense with 27 digs. Tertel had 60 assists, 15 digs and had the most points from unreturned serves with seven.

 

The Lady Bison are now preparing for the District 4 tournament next week at River Valley High School.