Long Wait Ends For Lakewood
November 17, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – The Lake Odessa Lakewood volleyball team won the award Saturday at Kellogg Arena for most emotion shown after an MHSAA championship win.
Senior Emily Kutch was in tears as coach Kellie Rowland charged onto the court and grabbed her and senior Olivia Davis. Rowland and her assistants – husband Clair and former head coach Jeff Duits – then met for another hug as a few decades of almost-there dissolved into distant memory.
Those three – and a number of these players – have been at this championship chase for a while. But the Vikings finally got their title with a 25-20, 25-18, 25-17 victory over perennial power North Branch.
Rowland has brought Lakewood to the season’s final week seven more times during a 15-year career that has stretched over two tenures and includes 787 wins. But with four four-year varsity players on the court, she and a large group of fans and alumni finally got to celebrate ending with a victory for the first time.
“We worked so hard for this. Everybody’s been saying this was the year, this is the team to win it all. And we did,” Kutch said. “Just winning in three (sets), and dominating like that. All of us seniors; there are seven of us and we’ve been together forever. And I think that carried the emotion too.”
Lakewood finished 52-4 to cap its first trip back to Battle Creek since the final winter season, in 2007. The Vikings had played in one other championship game, in 1995, when they lost to Stevensville Lakeshore.
Lakewood thought for a moment that it had earned the first point of Saturday’s match, but a close call went North Branch’s way. The Broncos actually got off to a 2-0 start in that first set – but Lakewood would outlast them to take it, 25-20.
Both Kutch and Broncos coach Jim Fish agreed that first game was key. Lakewood seemed to build momentum in winning the second 25-18, and then closed out the title with a 25-17 win capped by a final kill by Kutch that touched just before the back line on the Broncos' side.
Kutch and Davis, two of those four-year seniors, had 18 and 14 kills, respectively. At 6-foot and 6-1 they had a slight height advantage on their opponents, and took advantage.
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t want it to go into a fourth game. The heart can only take so much, and I’m not very young,” Rowland said. “They just really executed and did what they needed to do to beat them.
“We have the size, we have the speed and we have the quickness. And Brooke Wieland, out setter, really felt it in warm-ups. Our hitters were like, ‘Just keep setting baby, because it’s right where we need it.’”
Wieland and libero Beth Tingley also were four-year varsity seniors. Weiland had 31 assists and 11 digs in the Final, and Tingley had 11 digs as she helped key a defensive adjustment meant to combat North Branch’s strong outside attack.
The Broncos (68-8-1) got 11 kills from senior Micaela Deshetsky and 13 digs from senior libero Rachel Fish, who were both contributors when the team finished Class B runner-up in 2010. This was its third trip to Battle Creek in four seasons – North Branch won the title in 2009.
“I couldn’t be here my freshman year because I was sick, but when we lost my sophomore year there was a bitter taste, so we were ready to be back,” said Fish, a daughter of the coach. “All our emotions, everyone’s heart was really in it. We wanted it bad. But they were really good. Lakewood played really well against us.”
And neither was able to dodge the other contenders. The Vikings were ranked No. 1 coming into the tournament and North Branch was No. 2. Lakewood then beat the Nos. 3, 6 and 7 teams to make it to the end, while the Broncos eliminated Nos. 4 and 5 plus two honorable mentions to get to this point.
“We had a rough road to be able to get here, and I’m extremely proud of what they’ve done,” Jim Fish said. “There is not a negative involved in this. It was very positive, a great run, what high school athletics is all about.
“It’s what we talked about. There’s always going to be a winner and always going to be a loser. Our team wants to win just as badly as you do. As long as you understand that and keep it in perspective, you’re a winner. And that’s what these kids are.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Lakewood players Emily Kutch (2), Beth Tingley (10), Jordan Kietzman (17) and Brooke Wieland (6) celebrate a point during Saturday's Class B Final. (Middle) North Branch's Ally Ruhlman (2) sets up a teammate.
St. Phil Makes History with 8 Straight
November 23, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Sierra Hubbard-Neil finished the final roundhouse swing of her high school career and was on the Kellogg Arena floor with the rest of her Battle Creek St. Philip teammates Saturday before the ball hit the floor.
As with many of her swings during a four-year all-state career, this one finished a point – and one of the most historic victories during St. Philip’s heralded run.
That final kill sealed a 25-19 Game 3 win over Waterford Our Lady and another Class D title for the Tigers – their eighth straight, which tied Marysville’s teams from 1997-2004 for the longest championship streak in MHSAA volleyball history.
Although it’s debatable how much anyone believed it, some said St. Philip might have a tougher challenge this fall after graduating seven seniors in the spring including six starters and Miss Volleyball Amanda McKinzie. But despite only Hubbard-Neil as a returning starter, the Tigers simply rolled on with three more seniors taking on bigger roles.
“Everyone looks up to the seniors. The seniors are just like top dogs,” Hubbard-Neil said. “They lead the younger ones, and they try to keep that motivation through them and keep the enthusiasm to keep the tradition going.”
And so it did, in another way as well. The title was the ninth for St. Philip coach Vicky Groat, tying the total won by her mother, former Tigers coach Sheila Guerra, who died in 2006 but is frequently noted by Groat for her enormous influence on the program and its current coach.
St. Philip finished this run 64-7-2 while again playing some of the best from every class in the state – among those victories were wins over the top-ranked teams in both Class B and Class C at the end of the regular season, Hudsonville and Mendon, respectively.
“Marysville always has been a wonderful program. It’s an honor to be up there with them,” Groat said. “It’s pretty special, but I’m just glad we got nine. I wanted this one so badly for these girls, and to match my mom.
“She was an amazing coach, and I learned so much from her. Just to be on the same level as her; we have nine together, 18 as a family, and that’s pretty special."
The last time a team took St. Philip to a fourth game in a Final was 2007. But after beating back nerves during a first-set 25-12 loss, Our Lady gave the Tigers plenty to consider.
The Lakers were playing in their first MHSAA championship game after returning to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2001. After the team scored only 12 points in the opening set, hitters Allison Samulon, Courtney Wightman and Kristina Krupiak fell into stride.
“They first game was necessary to get the nerves out,” said Samulon, who finished with seven kills. The second and third games we fought hard, and there were a couple of things we could’ve done differently. But I think the first game had to happen for it to work.”
The Lakers three times gained the lead during a 25-22 loss in the second set, and wouldn’t go away during the third scoring three straight points to pull within 23-19 and cause Groat to call an impassioned timeout.
She’d watched Our Lady come back multiple times during the Semifinal against Leland, which the Lakers beat in three sets by a combined eight points.
“You get to that point, and (the players) know what’s in sight. So I just relaxed them a little bit,” Groat said. “And they responded after that timeout.
“Coach (Angela) Williams and I were talking about how much we love this team, how special they are. They just keep battling and working hard and trying to prove people wrong, and they did that today.”
Hubbard-Neil finished with 19 kills on 31 attempts for a match hitting percentage of .516. She’ll be playing next season at Western Michigan University. Junior Emily Schaub capped her season with 26 assists, four aces and six digs, and senior libero Rachel Gallagher had nine digs.
Wightman, a sophomore, led the Lakers with 11 kills, five digs and three blocks. Our Lady (41-6-6) will graduate the rest of its starting hitters and setter, but return next fall with a new expectation after watching a number of other teams at the school have championship success over the years.
“Now we have a measuring point. The girls know how hard they have to work,” Lakers coach Stephanie Swearingen said. “The younger kids have watched as our success has grown. I think it’s really going to excite the school. Hopefully we’ll be back soon.”
PHOTOS: (Top) St. Philip’s Sierra Hubbard-Neil sends one of her 19 kills during Saturday’s championship match. (Middle) The Tigers celebrate their eighth straight Class D title. (Below) Waterford Our Lady senior Amanda Ludlow returns the ball.