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.)
Reese Volleyball Heroes Hope to Have Rockets' Hoops Firing Next
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 29, 2021
Reese girls basketball coach Josh Pickell had never been happier to have low turnout through the first two weeks of practice.
The Rockets were down to four varsity players and had to combine with the junior varsity to run full sessions as the school’s volleyball team was making its Cinderella run to the MHSAA Division 3 Volleyball Finals title two weekends ago.
“As a coach, I just have to realize that the girls are going to need some time after doing what they did,” Pickell said. “It’s an incredible feat. It was kind of good for our entire program, with some other girls getting the extra practice time and seeing how cool it is for a girls team like the volleyball team to go that far. It was good for our freshman team and our JV team getting that time.”
All but two of the 11 players Reese took to Kellogg Arena are basketball players, including returning all-state honorees Maddi Osantowski and Aydan Dalak, who were at the forefront of the Nov. 20 title win against Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.
“I’m just hoping the momentum we had in volleyball, because we have so many girls that play volleyball and basketball, that it would just shift into basketball,” Osantowski said. “Just having that many girls to be able to shift to different sports, I think it shows how athletic the whole team is.”
The multi-sport seniors are taking slightly different approaches to getting into basketball, but neither is taking much time. Osantowski planned to return to practice Friday, giving herself less than a week after recording 71 kills and attempting more than 200 attacks during the final weekend of the volleyball season. Dalak, meanwhile, was on the basketball court Monday. She had been at previous practices, too, just not participating.
“I just sat and watched sometimes. I just wanted to see how the team was looking,” said Dalak, who was the setter on the volleyball team and plays point guard for the basketball team. “I was a little tired (Monday), and I’m usually not. But I’m not used to running back and forth for 30 minutes. I did OK. It was fine.”
Playing multiple sports is the norm at Reese, a school with fewer than 300 students. It’s necessary to keep multiple programs strong, and the coaches work together to ensure that happens.
“I really encourage doing multiple sports,” Reese volleyball coach Angie Compton said. “Last spring, I called the basketball coach and said, ‘Let’s do our youth camp together.’ That way, hopefully more kids will do both of them. Then, hopefully, you’re keeping more girls thinking that both sports are great.”
What Osantowski – who also plays softball – and Dalak – who has played softball but plans to run track next spring – are doing in terms of success, however, is not normal anywhere.
Dalak was named second-team all-state by the Michigan High School Volleyball Coaches Association, a year after earning honorable mention in the sport. She was named honorable mention all-state in basketball as a junior.
Osantowski was a first-team all-state selection in volleyball this season and honorable mention in 2020. She was second-team all-state in basketball as a junior and honorable mention as a sophomore, and she was named first-team all-state in softball as a junior, as well.
“If not all of the athletes are playing (multiple sports), the teams aren’t going to be as good,” Osantowski said. “I actually do not play travel. I did travel softball and basketball in middle school, and I did one year of travel volleyball. It’s kind of hard to transition (from sport to sport). I just focus all on one thing in the season, because I know I have to do it for my school.”
Neither Osantowski nor Dalak have made a college choice, but their mindset is pretty similar. Both are leaning toward playing volleyball collegiately, which is a change from years past when they thought basketball would be the route to the next level.
They will juggle that process with what looks to be a promising basketball season. The Rockets are coming off a 12-2 finish, and while their postseason run was ended in the District Semifinal, the loss came against eventual Division 3 semifinalist Hemlock. A familiar connection will lead the way, as the passes from Dalak to Osantowski that proved so successful on the volleyball court are pretty common on the basketball court, as well, with Osantowski’s role as a shooter.
“I’m like her little assister,” Dalak said with a laugh. “She stands in the corner and I’m good at driving and kicking it out to her.”
Just like in volleyball, they’ll be surrounded by a strong group of their classmates, including Josie Johnson. The Reese libero was an honorable mention all-state selection in volleyball, and is a standout guard on the basketball team.
“We’ve already talked about it, we think we can do this for basketball, too, but we have to work hard like we did for volleyball,” Dalak said. “We need to have fun and keep that energy going into basketball.”
But the volleyball title has sparked belief in more than just the players who won it. That's a new feeling for a school that had one Finals title prior to Saturday – won in boys cross country in 1964.
“I think even for the boys basketball team, I was talking to them today, and said, ‘You know, you guys can win a state championship, too,’” Osantowski said. “I think people can see now that we can do this, so they think it can happen more, or at least they can go farther.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Reese teammates Maddi Osantowski (left) and Aydan Dalak are hoping to carry their volleyball success into basketball season this winter. (Middle) Osantowski serves during the Division 3 Final win over Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central. (Below) Dalak sets up another teammate against the Kestrels. (Top photo courtesy of the Reese girls basketball program; volleyball photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)