NORTON SHORES – In the state tournament, any team with realistic hopes of going far had better be ready to respond when pushed.
So far the Western Michigan Christian volleyball team has passed that test, and because of that the Warriors are now among the final 16 teams still standing in Division 3.
Last week North Muskegon gave WMC fits in a district championship match, but the Warriors responded at crunch time and won in five sets.
On Tuesday night Morley-Stanwood rebounded from a bad first set and beat WMC in the second, but the Warriors once again regrouped and gained a 3-1 victory over the Mohawks in the first round of a D3 regional tournament on their home court.
[1]The Warriors, ranked No. 1 in the state, improved to 47-5 on the season and extended their winning streak to 19 straight matches. They will meet Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian in the regional finals on Thursday at 7 p.m. at WMC, with the winner advancing to the state quarterfinals.
“It’s the postseason, and if you lose you go home, so everybody is trying their hardest, and with our ranking this year we’ve had a target on our backs all season,” said WMC Coach Trent Smille. “Everybody gives us their best game, so if we don’t play our best game we’re in trouble.”
Tuesday’s match started out looking like it might be easy fodder for the Warriors, who cruised to a fast and efficient 25-8 win in the first set.
But the Mohawks pulled themselves together and showed how they made it to regionals by jumping out to an early lead in the second set and winning a tight one, 25-23.
Morley-Stanwood also played WMC tough through half of the third set, before the Warriors regrouped and won 25-19, then clinched the victory with another 25-19 win.
“We walked away with the first set, but then I told the girls that (the Mohawks) were going to be much better, and they were,” Smillie said.
[2]These are the matches that the Warriors have been preparing for all season, and they did so by playing the best opponents they could find during the regular season, Smillie said.
That sort of experience has been paying off when the tournament pressure is on.
“We had a really strong schedule,” the coach said. “We went all over the state to find good competition, and the whole purpose for that was so we could be ready for tournament time and not get rattled. We have 14-year-olds on the team and 18-year-olds on the team, and they have all been staying real level-headed.”
WMC is competing at the regional level for the first time in three years, and Smillie says it’s great to be the host school and have a big crowd backing his players.
“Hosting these big matchups is huge for us,” he said. “This is where we practice and we had a great crowd. It was an amazing atmosphere tonight, and loud.”
Smillie gave a special nod to Warrior libero Haley Breuker, who had 22 digs and in the process broke a four-year-old single season school digs record.
Kyla Wiersema led the offense with 29 kills while Kendal Young had a great match with 52 assists and scored several key points. Defensively, Maddie Wiersema led in digs with 24 and blocks with five.
[3]