The Ionia Varsity Volleyball team hosted their annual Ionia Invitational on Saturday. The Bulldogs opened pool play against Portland St Patrick, starting the morning with a two-set win. After a break they matched up against Forest Hills Eastern, getting off to a slow start and dropping the 1st set before bouncing back to take the 2nd. The final pool play game was against Belding in which Ionia closed out a quick two-set victory. The Bulldogs finished pool play in 2nd place with the head-to-head tie with Eastern and played Greenville in the semi-finals round. Ionia jumped out to an early lead but let a Greenville service run break their momentum dropping the 1st set 22-25. The team came back on the court refocused in the 2nd set and a service run of their own by Freshman Aubree Shaw closed out the set 25-20 and another run in the deciding set took the match 15-9 to put the Bulldogs in the finals. The championship game was a rematch with Forest Hills Eastern. Ionia worked to find their groove in the 1st set but fell short 19-25. However, after opening the 2nd set with point for point play a 10-point service run by Freshman Adelyse Perry propelled the Bulldogs to a 22-8 lead before Ionia closed out the set 25-11. The deciding set once again saw both teams trading points until Ionia called a timeout at 13-14. The Bulldogs went back on the court and sided out immediately to tie the match 14-14. Junior Isabella Gallagher closed out the match serving the next two points behind strong defense and on point offense with Senior Logan Thomas putting away the final kill to win the Championship match 16-14 to keep the 1st Place trophy at home!

Ionia’s strong offensive effort throughout the day was led by Logan Thomas with 62 kills while Amaya Frias put down another 44. Alli Shaw kept the offense swinging all day with 104 assists. From the service line, Aubree Shaw led with 15 aces while Alli Shaw dropped in another 12. The Bulldogs had an impressive 49 aces over their 5 matches of the day! Defensively Thomas kept the Bulldogs in system with 62 digs while Alli Shaw kept another 43 in play. At the net, Adelyse Perry had 4 blocks while Isabella Gallagher stopped another 3. The Bulldogs are now 17-10-1 overall and will be back on their home court for another CAAC White match up against Lakewood on Tuesday at 6pm. Ionia will be hosting Youth Night as well to recognize all the Bulldog volleyball players that have been putting in the work this season! Let’s pack the stands and get loud! Great work Bulldogs!