The Ionia Bulldogs got off to an aggressive start to the day playing Birch Run.  The game went point for point until  15 when the Bulldogs communication and coverage of the middle campfire by Miah Wittenbach and Ella Bouwhuis left Birch Run with no place to tip the ball.  McKenna O'Connor caught them on their heels with a soft roll short over the block and Jordan Ciganick was aggressive at the net.  The Bulldogs won game 1, 25-21.  In set 2 Ava Bowen started the game with 5 straight aces giving the Dawgs an early 6-1 lead.  The Bulldog momentum never wavered.  After a long rally Gena Rogers won a point with an aggressive kill on an overpass.  Libero Ella Bouwhuis then put up a perfect dig against a killer pin hit.  Setter Ava Bowen then had a great read and placed a soft tip right over the block into a wide open middle.  The Bulldogs kept up the aggressive play taking the win 25-13.

In the 2nd match-up of Pool play the Bulldogs faced the Alma Panthers.  The Dawgs came in cold and the Panthers pushed to an early lead of 5-1 after 3 aces.  Then Jordan Ciganick stopped the run with a well placed kill to the corner.  The Bulldogs kept playing and tried to gain momentum when Alma overpassed a serve receive ball and Ryley Helmes came back slamming a kill to the back court.  The Bulldogs,even with moments of great play, couldn't overcome 7 serving errors and lost game 1, 25-16.  In game 2 Alma's serves put them into an early lead of 9-4 but the Dawgs dug in and brought the heat.  They started to communicate and the rallies followed.  Kenadie McCoy had a great dig followed by several kills off the block.  The back row with Miah Wittenbach, Brooklyn Nash, and Ella Bouwhuis put up some great passes to help Ava Bowen assist Erin Steffen to two back corner kills in a row and a kill by Kenadie McCoy.  Gena Rogers was a force behind the service line with 8 serves in a row, 5 being aces.  Ava Bowen closed the game by keeping the momentum going with 6 service points behind the line, 4 of which were aces.  The Dawgs won game two, 25-14.

In the final match-up of pool play the Dawgs faced undefeated Okemos.  In game 1 Ionia had difficulty finding their groove in the back court and the Grey Hounds got up to an early 8-4 lead.  Ava Bowen tried to get the offense going with a tip, as well as Jordan Ciganick with two kills back to back but the Dawgs ended up losing game one 25-15.  In game 2 Ionia came out strong and the Bulldogs got an early lead 13-7 before they hit a rough patch of play.  Yet they still didn't give up.  They had a number of rough rallies that ended not in our favor.  The  Grey Hounds kept coming at the Ionia defense and eventually were victorious 25-22.  

The Bulldogs came out of pool play 3-3, which placed them into the 6th seed  out of 12 in bracket play.  The Bulldogs were up a various times throughout both game 1 and 2 but couldn't take the game.  They worked hard, communicated, were aggressive and scrappy, and tried.  The score does not always show the great rallies that were lost. They ended the day losing to Williamston 26-23 and 25-19.

Overall the girls played hard and every team member contributed to the game.  Kenadie MCoy had 8 kills for the day, 3 aces and 6 digs.  Ella Bouwhuis had 23 digs and Erin Steffen contributed another 10.  Ava Bowen worked her tail off 24 assists, 7 aces, 2 digs, and 18 perfect passes.  Jordan Ciganick had 5 kills while Mckenna O'Connor had another 4, Gena and Ryley each contributed 1.  Gena Rogers had a high of 7 aces, Miah Wittenbach contributed 4 along with Ryley Helmes.  

The Bulldogs are now 15-14-1 on the season.  They play again on Tuesday at home against Portland.