NORTON SHORES – It’s a little disconcerting to watch Kyla Wiersema on the volleyball court, then talk to her in person.

On the court, she’s the 6-foot-1 take-charge girl who makes the big plays at the net when the Warriors need them most.

She’s fierce when she goes on the attack, hitting thundering kills that opponents are often unable to react to, let alone return.

Occasionally those kills inadvertently strike an opponent, and you know that player will still feel the sting of the ball the next morning.

That part of Wiersema’s personality came through again on Tuesday night in the state quarterfinals against Watervliet.

The Warriors tailed throughout the second set, and it looked like the Panthers might win it and change the course of the match.

But Wiersema wasn’t having it, and she turned on her kill machine, pounding several big shots to help WMC rally to win that set, and eventually the match 3-0.

The victory propelled the No. 1 ranked Warriors, now 49-5 and winners of 21 in a row, into Friday’s state semifinals against Reese in Battle Creek. The winner will advance to Saturday’s state championship match.

“I said, ‘I’m not losing. We’re not losing this set,’” said Wiersema, who finished with 24 kills in the match. “Someone was going to go home crying, and it’s not going to be me. I’m just going to slam it and take over.”

Wiersema has been on a “killing spree” throughout the tournament, registering 21 kills in the district semifinals against Saugatuck, 29 in a very tough district title match against North Muskegon, 29 in the regional semifinals against Morley Stanwood, and 23 in the regional finals against Grand Rapids Northpointe Christian.

She has a total of 642 kills on the season, and that number would be even larger if the Warriors didn’t have some other big hitters on the team, as well.

Away from the action, however, Wiersema doesn’t seem like a girl who can scare opponents and change the course of a match. She’s a polite, friendly and modest kid who just seems happy to be playing on a great team with her friends.

As WMC Coach Trent Smillie put it, “She just flips on a switch and goes into game mode. Most girls we play against are very intimidated by her. But she’s actually one of the sweetest girls on the planet. If she was out to lunch (with opponents), they would have a great time.”

Wiersema admits her on-court and off-court personalities can be different.

“I think I’m a pretty nice person,” she said. “I just think I have a lot of confidence when I’m playing. People call me scary all the time. I’m not a scary person all the time, but volleyball is a different thing, so if I’m scary that’s OK.

“When our team is in a rut, I just figure, ‘Well, it’s power time.’ I may hit some people by accident, but I just slam it.”

Wiersema’s daunting presence in front of the net is a problem for opponents in more ways than one. While they have to be on guard for her booming shots, they also have to try to get their own shots past her and her tall teammates, which is no small challenge.

Wiersema, along with her twin sister Maddie Wiersema (6-1) and fellow senior Libby Mast (6-0), form a triple tower at the net, and have doused opponents with blocks this season. Just their presence at the net forces opponents to play differently and reconsider their strategy, which can throw them off their game.

Kyla, Maddie and Libby have all broken the school’s old single-match and single-season block records, and Kyla broke the old career record of 235 several weeks ago. She is currently at 305 total blocks.

In the state tournament, the Wiersema twins, Mast and setter Kendal Young have combined for 66 blocks in their five matches, with Kyla collecting 18 of them.

“My sister is way better at blocking, and she looks cooler when she does it, but getting a block feels pretty good,” Wiersema said.

“Her skill level is amazing,” Coach Smille said about Kyla’s all-around play. “This season she is going to pass the total number of blocks he had in her sophomore and junior years combined. She’s one of the most impressive volleyball players in Division 3 in Michigan, and she’s also a sweet girl and great teammate. We’re going to miss her when she’s gone.”

Ironically, volleyball is a late-blooming passion for Wiersema, who is also a basketball standout and preferred that sport for most of her school years.

It was only when she joined varsity volleyball as a sophomore, and became part of a team that was ranked in the top 10 in the state, that volleyball found its way into her heart.

“I love them both equally,” she said. “It used to be basketball, but now when someone asks me about my favorite sport, it depends on whatever season it is.”

The Warriors made it all the way to the state quarterfinals in Wiersema’s sophomore year, and had big plans for the 2020 season. But the team’s ambitions were unraveled by an upset loss to North Muskegon in district finals, and Wiersema figured her chance to be a state champion in volleyball has passed.

The team was losing a number of key seniors, and Wiersema had no idea if the younger players coming up from JV could help round out a title contender.

Obviously they have, because the Warriors have the most wins in school history this season, and have advanced farther than any previous WMC volleyball squad.

“I remember crying last year after we lost in districts,” Wiersema said. “I thought that was the last team we were going to have that had a chance to win state. I never played with a lot of these girls before.

“This summer my sister and Kendal (Young) were saying they thought we might have a pretty good team this year, and I never expected that. Now we have the best chance we ever had.”