Panthers rebound by winning own tournament

Updated: September 19, 2011 8:28PM

Griffith bounced back from its tough Northwest Crossroads Conference loss against Lowell on Thursday to win the Griffith Invite on Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers won their division beating North Newton, Calumet and Gavit before beating Wheeler in the championship, 2-1 (24-25, 25-19, 15-9).

Griffith coach Cathy Dilbeck, who saw her team improve to 14-5, said it was important to have a strong showing on Saturday with a big week against conference foes Munster and Andrean.

“I’m proud of the girls for forgetting about (the Lowell loss) and coming back to win the tournament,” she said. “Hopefully, the momentum carries over into this week with Munster and Andrean coming up. The win against Wheeler was big because the girls know they can beat teams at that level.”

The Bearcats are currently 15-4 after losing to the Panthers in the final. Dilbeck said the key to stopping Wheeler was slowing down sophomore Shannon Doyle.

“We just wanted to contain her as much as possible,” Dilbeck said. “So we had her matched up against Kelsey (Bonewits). We got off to the slow start losing the first game but we improved our ball control and we were able to come back strong the next two games. Wheeler is a good all-around team. We knew we had to keep them out of their offense as best we could.”

Bonewits led the way with 63 kills, 26 digs and 13 blocks in the tournament. Senior setter Megan Tuttle had 75 assists, sophomore outside hitter Lisette Roldan had 23 kills and senior libero Stacie Hansen had 30 digs total in four matches.

Cool to wear pink: Breast Cancer Awareness Month is quickly approaching and numerous local volleyball teams are planning their “Dig Pink” matches.

Hobart is hosting Andrean for its “Dig Pink” match on Oct. 6. The Junior Varsity match starts at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity match following approximately 20 minutes after the JV.

Last year, the Brickies filled the gym with pink decorations and the girls wore pink to mark the event. There will be a number of prizes, as well as booths to make donations. Mark the date on your calendar and come out and support the cause.

Player of the week

Kate Nowak, Chesterton

She did a bit of everything for the Trojans on Thursday in a win over LaPorte. She had 42 assists, five kills, eight digs, two aces and three block assists.

P-T Top 10

1. Andrean, 2. Valparaiso, 3. Lowell, 4. Munster, 5. Washington Twp., 6. Griffith, 7. Lake Central, 8. Wheeler, 9. Chesterton, 10. LaPorte

— Correspondent Ryan Haskell

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