Mendon was runner-up in the gold bracket at the Cereal City volleyball tournament Saturday in Battle Creek, losing to Temperance Bedford in the finals.
The Hornets cruised through pool play with victories over Battle Creek Central (25-9, 25-14), Hastings (25-7, 26-24) and Parma Western (25-14, 25-5) to earn a No. 1 seed. They got past Coldwater in a close quarterfinal match, 25-22, 25-23, and rallied after losing the first game to Marshall (24-26, 25-14, 15-13) to make it to the championship.
A talented Bedford squad proved to be too much for Mendon, which lost 25-11, 25-12.
“Played well on the day, would like to have won it all, but we are very pleased with how we played and we had a lot of fun,” Mendon coach Kathy Trenary said. “Marshall took us out of our game and made us uncomfortable, but the kids hung in there, rallied, showed persistence and got the win.
“Bedford was good — good defense and didn’t let much hit the floor — and a tough offense to go with it.”
Mendon’s season record thus far is 12-3-2 and it begins St. Joseph Valley league play Wednesday at White Pigeon. Jordan Van Oss had 16 aces, and Alexis Russell served up 10. Loryn Baughman picked up 103 assists, Brooke Howard and Russell led the team with 46 digs, followed by Van Oss’ 44, and Howard notched 64 kills, matching Van Oss for a team best in that category.