Week 9 Recap: All-Thumb Edition
Upset Galore! This past week was a wild one in the thumb. Unionville-Sebewaing, Ubly, and Reese took home major wins. Harbor Beach secured the title outright, what else happened? We got you covered in the week nine recap! Business As…
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Continue ReadingUpset Galore! This past week was a wild one in the thumb. Unionville-Sebewaing, Ubly, and Reese took home major wins. Harbor Beach secured the title outright, what else happened?
We got you covered in the week nine recap!
Business As Usual for Unionville-Sebewaing
Unionville-Sebewaing is a powerhouse Division 3 volleyball program. Oddly, USA is known for slow starts to the conference season before turning into beasts when it mattered most. 2019 is no different. After beginning the season 0-2, the Patriots are on a seven-match win streak. This week they took down the leader of the GTW, Cass City, in an epic four-set brawl to tie for first in the league before sweeping Lakers. USA was playing on all cylinders against the Hawks. Leading the way was libero Maci Montgomery and OH Allyson Kemp. Montgomery was superb in the match, logging 27 digs and was perfect in service reception. Kemp had a career night with a season-high 21 kills, hitting for a .271 clip. Another career-defining performance came from sophomore setter Kylie Bohn. Bohn paced the offense well with a career-high 58 assists and averaged 14.5 assists per set.
Albeit a loss, Cass City didn’t go away quietly. Sierra Spry had the night of her life against the Pats. Spry terminated to a tune of .438 with a career-best 17 kills, also contributing two solo blocks. Hailey Beckrow performed as usual, adding 17 kills of her own to the event. More impressively, Beckrow five blocks in the match to lead all players. DS Madison Cumper also got in on the theme of career bests, logging a 14 dig performance.
Caro suffered yet another loss, this time to Reese. After handing the Rockets their first loss of the season, the second time around, the Rockets returned the favor. Leading the way in the Tiger’s effort was Kaitlyn Arebalo with 17 kills and six blocks.
Harbor Beach Secures Outright Title
For the first time since 1979, the Beach sits atop of the Greater Thumb East. And there is no room for company. Harbor Beach made quick work of the Sandusky Redskins this week, holding them to less than 15 points each set. The Beach’s offense was unstoppable on the occasion. As a team, the Pirates hit for a crazy .375 clip and posted nine blocks. Their block and defense held their opponent to negative. Amber Pleiness, again, led the way with 12 kills. Maya Pfaff paced the block with four to go along with four kills. Defensive specialist Kathryn Ocomen led the backcourt with 12 digs
Below the beach, Ubly defended their newly renovated home court with ease against Brown City. The Bearcats were led by their duo of middles, Allison Lautner and Lindsey Guza. The pair combined for 33 kills and eight blocks on the night. Josie Gusa scrapped up whatever ball somehow got past the block. Gusa posted 25 digs for the occasion. On the Devil’s side, Grace Schlaud led with 13 kills followed by Olivia Bovenschen with 10.
North Branch Continues Move Toward Conference Glory
North Branch brought out the brooms again this week against Yale. This victory brings North Branch one win away from claiming outright ownership of their second consecutive BWAC title. ‘Twas a team effort at Yale. Quinn Peterson and Breann June lead the offense with 10 kills apiece. June then added five aces. Charlise Hyde was tough to get around as well. The libero had a nice outing with 18 digs and owned 26 of the team’s 51 service receptions.
Just behind North Branch, Croswell-Lexington hosted Armada in one utter battle of a match. Going the distance in five sets, Armada held a 2-1 set lead going into the fourth, with the first set going to hosts by the slimmest of margins. The latter pair of sets were owned by the Pioneers. The deciding set went to the Pioneers in dominating fashion going 15-7 to take the win. Armada was able to push it to the limit, taking advantage of Cros-Lex’s weak blocking performance as the Pioneers could only post one block in the entire match.
Cros-Lex was led by senior OH Maia Fagan with 16 kills. Ashlyn McNeill was a game-changer behind the service line with six aces and libero Mollie Ripenbark was solid with 27 digs.
Marysville Invitational
Cass City and Harbor Beach both traveled to Marysville for a highly competitive tournament this weekend. With many good performances, both would make it to the gold bracket before bowing out in the semifinals.
Cass City went 2-1-1 between both regular and power pool play against the likes of Marysville, Warren Mott, and Harbor Beach. The Hawks fell in the semis to hosts Marysville. The Hawks performed well throughout the day. Hailey Beckrow was solid at the net with 31 kills and 17 blocks on the day. The defensive trio of Abbey Salcido, Madison Cumper and Macey White all combined for a total of 99 digs on the day. Abby Phillips paced the offense with 40 assists.
Harbor Beach held a tournament record of 4-1, taking the lone loss to eventual champions Lutheran North in the semifinals.