Sights and Sounds: 2019 Hatchet Invitational
The 2019 season is finally upon us and many teams opened their season this past weekend. At the 32nd annual Hatchet Invitational hosted by Bad Axe, we saw a lot of thumb area talent come to play with some out…
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Continue ReadingThe 2019 season is finally upon us and many teams opened their season this past weekend. At the 32nd annual Hatchet Invitational hosted by Bad Axe, we saw a lot of thumb area talent come to play with some out of towners coming to shake the dust off as well. This year’s tournament theme was serve and pass, as many teams brought the heat behind the service line and the dynamic passers on stage made for LONG rallies. The Flat Rock Rams came out victorious over the Westland John Glenn Rockets to achieve the crown in Bad Axe.
Here’s a look at the teams and players who made the biggest impacts.
Flat Rock
Photo by Quad N ProductionsThe team that finished the day victorious were a young Rams squad. In what coach, Mackenzie Kaiser, says is in rebuilding mode did not disappoint nor seem to be the in rebuilding mode. The Rams were led by senior MB Carly Doros (pictured). Doros is a do-it-all athlete for this squad. Playing 6-rotations she showed not only great offensive prowess with her attack and dangerous float serve. She was steady on defense, posing as one of the biggest blocks and a high passing IQ. Sophomore MB Kayla Giroux showed huge promise with good blocking technique and a killer slide attack to quiet any team. On the pins were junior Ryley Osentoski and sophomore Abby Goldobin. Both with whips of arms ran a very fast attack and were go-to’s in out of system play. Osentoski was also steady on service reception as another 6-rotation player.
Westland John Glenn
Photo by Quad N ProductionsRunner ups on the day, the Rockets were dynamite behind the service line. Leading her team was OH Mya Tarrance (pictured). Tarrance with an explosive jump topspin serve clocked in 15 aces on the day along with 21 kills. Alongside her was OH Jessica Florn who led the team in kills with 33 on the day. The duo were defensive machines as both of them play libero/DS for their respective club squads. After dropping a game and splitting twice in pool play, John Glenn grew red hot in bracket play until dropping a hard-fought match in the trophy match to Flat Rock.
Midland
Fresh off their second consecutive regional title in 2018, the Chemics of Midland opened up 2019 play in Bad Axe. The Chemics experienced a tough pool, splitting games with Cass City and Millington. They would avenge the split to Millington in bracket play where they swept the Cardinal before losing a thrilling semifinal match to John Glenn. Coach Tim Zerull played with his teams line-up throughout the day. Leading in attack was outside hitter Taylor Sanborn who brought in 20 kills while resting a few sets during the day. Defensively, libero Gabby Schloop brought in 39 digs and was another tough player to get the ball down as she brought up the hardest of attacks and carried a wide range of court.
Bad Axe
Photo by Quad N ProductionsComing out to play in their home tournament is something new for the Hatchets. Coach Chrissy Kaczuk in her second year as head coach is looking to lead her squad to new beginnings after a few down seasons. On the day, Bad Axe went 3-1-1, their best opening record in quite some time. Scrappy in defense, the hatchets also pulled off one of the most balanced attacking teams on the day. It was hard to decipher a go-to player when all six options were contributing.
Other Key Contributors
Croswell-Lexington – Morgan Moore, Jr, Setter – Standing at 5’9, she was one of the tallest setters in Saturday’s tournament and she was one of the biggest contributing setters. Posting 45 assists on the day, she also averaged just under a kill per set on a .417 efficiency.
Cass City – Sierra Spry, Jr, MB – One of many newbies to the Red Hawk squad, Spry made a great debut. On limited attempts due to troubles in the setting department, Sierra made the most of them. On 29 swings, Spry downed 12 balls with only two errors. She not only led Cass City with a .345 hitting efficiency, but she also led with 5 blocks on the day.
Millington – Darrien Roberts, Sr, Lib – Millington may have struggled throughout the day, but one of those areas weren’t in the passing department. Due in large part to their libero, Roberts held a wide range on the court and made it quite difficult for attackers to get a kill. On the day, she averaged just under 9 digs per set!