Peformance: Ida's Taylor Wegener
November 14, 2019
Taylor Wegener
Ida senior – Volleyball
The Bluestreaks’ four-year middle and outside hitter had a career-high and state record book-qualifying 34 kills in Thursday’s 3-2 Division 2 District Final win over Carleton Airport, earning the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.” The previous weekend, Wegener became the 24th player in state history to go over 2,000 kills, and after Tuesday’s Regional Semifinal win over Flat Rock has 2,098 – good for 16th most in MHSAA history since the move to rally scoring in 2004-05.
The 5-foot-11 Wegener has 630 kills this season – averaging 5.5 per game – and is scoring on nearly 50 percent (.489 kill percentage) of her attacks. She also has a career-high 93 service aces this season and is up to 287 for her career, just three shy of making the record book in that category. She has added 260 career blocks and made the Division 2/Class B all-state second team the last two seasons. The Bluestreaks are 41-7-1 and will face Dearborn Divine Child in Thursday’s Regional Final at Airport with an opportunity to advance to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2008.
Wegener’s historic abilities are not reserved for the fall. She will play her fourth season of varsity basketball this winter and is 35 points from 1,000 for her career and 314 from setting the school scoring record; she averaged 18.4 points per game as a junior. Wegener also brings championship experience to those teams from a third sport – she played only one season of high school softball, as a freshman in 2017, but helped that team to the Division 2 title including going 3-for-4 in the championship game win over Richmond. She said her favorite sport is always the one in season, but it will be volleyball fulltime at the next level. Wegener – who carries a 3.78 grade-point average – will continue in that sport and academically at Saginaw Valley State University, where she’d like to study nursing.
Coach Bree Russow said: “Taylor brings so much joy and passion to the gym for all to see. That has really impacted how she has played over the past four years. Not only is she a fun player to coach, she is fun to watch. She loves the game and her teammates so much, she gives her all every time she steps on the court. Taylor is a great leader and has been team captain the last few years. Her teammates look up to her not only for her skill but as a teammate/friend/leader, which is so important – she wants everyone to have success, and her team comes first. I first started coaching Taylor in eighth grade during club season, and to see her growth has been truly amazing. She has worked so hard to get where she is today. She gets better every time she steps on that court, and she brings a little extra every day. Her teammates and younger athletes see that. No matter what she is playing – volleyball, basketball, and softball – she is there to battle. That says a lot, and others want to do the same.”
Performance Point: “I’ve been on varsity since I was a freshman, and just realizing that this is my last year playing for the Ida community, (now that) it’s almost over it’s just eye-opening how grateful I’ve been to be a part of such an amazing community and have had so much support,” Wegener said. “I think that I’ve just been playing my heart out because I don’t want it to end yet. I know all good things come to an end, but hopefully our end isn’t coming that soon. We have a total of eight seniors, and I think just all of us realize that it’s our last time playing together and you’ve gotta make the most of it.”
2,000 and growing: “I can’t get a kill without a good pass and without a good set, so it’s really my teammates that do all the work to make me look good. … I’ve never been one to count. People will come up to me and ask how many kills, or (for basketball) how many points did you have? I just say I have no idea. Those sports are all team efforts. The competitor in me just wants to win. If it’s two kills versus 30 kills, and my teammates pick it up in those certain places, a win is a win at the end of the day for me. I think I’ve improved with confidence over the years, and that’s why I’ve gotten those kills and I’ve taken advantage of the times when I’ve needed to get a kill.”
Embracing the opportunity: “The last Regional was actually my cousin (playing), which is my assistant coach Ashley Begeman, so (to win this week) would be a huge thing for not only me personally, but my family. And looking at the banner, (for reaching) the final four, in the gym, it’s always been a goal of mine. As a little kid, when you go in there and you see those letters up on that banner, it’s like, I want to be up there someday.”
Power player: “I’ve always been stronger in my grade. In basketball, it’s ripping a ball from someone. With volleyball, it’s slamming the ball as hard as I can. It’s just the aggression in me that’s like, ‘I’m going to do what I have to do to win as strong and as hard as I can.’”
Bluestreak building: “As we’re more successful in the state run, you just see that people from our community have just come out and been so supportive. The gym was so loud (Tuesday) night, and it was just an emotional time because right after the game you could just feel the happiness in the gym. People I hadn’t seen in years had come to support Ida. It’s just really amazing; it’s going to hurt that I don’t have that next year. … I’ve had that experience in softball too. When we won the state softball championship, it was that same feeling that brings tears to my eyes because I’m so happy to not only be proud of my teammates, but proud of my community. That self-pride, they’re returning it right back to us. It’s just an amazing feeling you can’t describe.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Nov. 7: Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Ida's Taylor Wegener (6) rises for a kill attempt during a match at Carleton Airport. (Middle) Wegener also saves a ball from hitting the floor. (Photos courtesy of the Ida volleyball program.)
Brown, Brines End Cadillac Careers Among School, State's All-Time Elite
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 28, 2023
Macy Brown in 2020 and Renee Brines in 2021 completed two of the most prolific careers for one of the state’s most consistently-successful programs at Cadillac.
Brown’s 962 kills in 2020 rank fourth for one season, and her 2,349 over four seasons and 553 games rank 11th on that career list. Brines 4,295 assists over 561 games and four seasons rank ninth, and she made aces lists with 119 as a senior and 324 for her career.
Brown is playing at University of New Haven in Connecticut, and Brines is playing at Northwood.
See below for more recent additions to the volleyball record book.
Volleyball
Evelyn Karamon made her career-high assists match count as a senior in 2021. She put up 48 in Allen Park Inter-City Baptist’s five-set win over Ubly in a Division 4 Quarterfinal as the team advanced to the Semifinals for the first time.
Corrie Wisser capped her Hopkins career last fall with a series of record book-worthy achievements, including two that made career lists. She was added for 3,184 assists and 400 aces both over four seasons and 479 games, and with the aces tying for 12th-most all-time. She also made the list twice for 10 aces in a match and twice for single-season aces including a high of 143 as a junior. She has signed with Ferris State.
Fenton’s Eva Long earned her first record book entry last fall with 12 aces in a three-set match against Holly on Sept. 15. She will be a sophomore this upcoming season.
Despite a tough five-set loss to Novi, Brighton’s Abby Mainka enjoyed a career night Sept. 13 when she had 32 kills to make the record book. She’ll be a senior this school year.
Three Rivers’ Miley Southland reached the record book in just her first season of high school. The then-freshman posted 47 assists in a five-set comeback win over Edwardsburg last Aug. 31.
Gianna Sager picked the perfect night for a record book-worthy performance during her junior season at Utica Ford, as she set 63 assists in a five-game 2021 District Semifinal win over Sterling Heights Stevenson. Those assists are tied for ninth for one match, and Ford went on to win its District title.
Recent Boyne City grad Morgan Deming capped her career last fall with two of the most impressive performances, with her 52 kills Nov. 2 against Kingsley third-most in MHSAA history and her 44 kills the next day against Cheboygan tied for seventh on the list. She also made the single-season kills list with 606 over 117 games. Teammate Ava Tarsi made the single-match assists list twice with 68 against Kingsley and 65 against Boyne City. Deming has signed with Lake Superior State, and Tarsi will be a senior this season.
Saginaw Swan Valley then-junior Marli Robinson also joined the single-match assists list, posting 46 in her team’s Division 2 Regional Semifinal against Frankenmuth on Nov. 8.
Nearly two decades later, Ashlee Mosley was added for two performances while a senior at North Adams Jerome in 2005-06. She made the single-match blocks list with 11 in a five-set match against Camden-Frontier, then finished her high school career with 17 against Adrian Lenawee Christian that March 4 in postseason play. The latter remain tied for fourth on the list.
Despite playing an abbreviated senior season in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, Farmington Hills Mercy’s Julia Bishop finished that fall with a few more than 1,000 assists – and a four-season career total of 5,575 assists, good for third all-time and coming in 521 games despite playing only 95 as a senior. Bishop plays at Michigan State.
Mt. Morris’ run to the Division 2 Quarterfinals last fall was boosted in part by a strong 1-2 punch of setter Alisiya Boedecker and hitter Blair Wilson. Boedecker, then a sophomore, was added to the record book five times including with a high of 61 assists in a match against Clio, 1,389 assists over 159 games for the season and 2,595 assists for her career after just two years of high school. Wilson, then a senior, was added five times including for 17 aces in a three-set match (tied for 10th all-time), 42 kills in that Clio match (tied for 11th), 615 kills for the season and 2,128 for her four-year career. Additionally, then-freshman Destany Clymer was added for 140 aces last season and then-sophomore Callie Quackenbush for 121, as well as single-game ace totals.
Birch Run’s Kalliann Cook capped her four-year varsity career in the fall with 427 aces – 10th-most in MHSAA rally-scoring history. She made the single-season list with 121 as a freshman and 127 as a junior. She’s signed with Austin Peay State.
PHOTO Cadillac's Macy Brown (6) rises above the net during the 2020 Division 2 Semifinals.