On Saturday, August 21st, the Dakota girls varsity volleyball team joined 15 area teams in competing to become the champions of the 18th annual Dakota Invitational.

The tournament began with pool play, finding Dakota as the top seed in their pool.  The pool consisted of Dakota, Rochester Adams, Fraser, and Canton.  The early morning start found Dakota a little sluggish, and saw the Cougars drop their first set to Canton.  Dakota quickly regrouped to take the next 2 sets from Canton, and followed by sweeping both Fraser and Adams in 2 sets.

Dakota continued their strong play into the playoff round, where they defeated Bedford in the quarterfinals, before outlasting Mercy in a hard-fought semifinal match.  This set up a finals showdown with top-seeded Marian.  The Cougars went toe-to-toe with the defending state champs before finally succumbing in 2 tightly contested sets.