COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – In Branch County high school sports, it was a busy first Saturday on the 2015 fall season schedule. In Boys soccer, Coldwater dropped a pair of games to open their season, falling to Mattawan 3-0 and to Portage Northern 3-2 in the Justin Bailey Shootout at the Portage Soccer Complex. In their game against Mattawan, which finished the regular season last year ranked #2 in the state in Division 2, Coldwater controlled most of the first half possessions, with the scored tied 0-0. The Cardinals gave up the 3 second half goals on 2 Mattawan corner kicks and one counterattack after a Coldwater corner kick.
In the game against Division One Portage Northern, the Cardinals were down 1-0 at the half. They conceded a penalty kick and another goal off a corner kick in the second half, but got 2 goals of their own from Wageeh Saeed and Mana Ahmed. Fadel Said had one assist.
In volleyball, Coldwater, Quincy, and Union City opened their seasons with 17 other teams at the Battle Creek YMCA for the Carrie Adams Memorial Invitational hosted by St. Philip Catholic Central. Coldwater had a 2-1 record on the day after defeating Hillsdale Academy and Concord in pool play before falling to Hanover Horton in the Gold bracket quarterfinals. Jasmine Wellet led Coldwater with 17 kills, 26 digs, and 6 aces for the tournament. Drue Mullin added 11 kills and 23 digs. Jamie Wellet had a team-high 43 assists while Breanna Eddy had 6 solo blocks.
Union City had a win, a loss, and a split in pool play before falling to Quincy in the Silver bracket quarterfinals. Rachel Wing had 19 kills, Haley Harty had 25 digs and 10 aces, and Cassie Thorpe had 30 assists. Quincy had a 2-4 pool play record and made it to the finals of the Silver bracket before losing to Concord.
Also in volleyball, Bronson opened their season by winning their own Invitational tournament with the Lady Vikings beating Niles in the championship match 25-21, 26-24. It was payback for Bronson after they fell in two games to Niles in pool play.
In boys tennis, on Friday, Coldwater opened its season and for the third straight year, won the Vicksburg Invitational. The Cardinals earned 59 points in the victory against a field of 7 teams with Harper Creek second with 45 points followed by Parma Western with 42 points. Coldwater had 6 individual champions with Javier Perez-Marsa, Kumaran Arivoli, and Shane O’Grady at first, third, and fourth singles along with Nolan Duda and Austin Butler at first doubles, Nick Galliers and Christian Pine at third doubles, and Evan Henry and Porter Skidmore at fourth doubles. The Cardinals return to action Wednesday at Edwardsburg.
In cross country Saturday, Bronson and Union City started their seasons with 4 other teams at the Colon Invitational. In the Boys action, Bronson took first place and Union City was sixth while on the girls side, Bronson took second place and Union City was third.
Today in high school sports, in boys soccer, Coldwater travels to Kalamazoo Central with the JV game at 5 pm and the varsity at 6:45 pm. And in girls golf, Coldwater plays in the Hanover-Horton Invitational at the Cascades Golf Course.
Today, the Coaches Corner returns for another season and we start with a look at the fall sports Coaches’ roster for the Coldwater Cardinals.
