Traverse City Record-Eagle

Volleyball

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November 11, 2009

TC West swept in volleyball regional

Grand Haven to face Rockford in Thursday's final

BY MIKE ECKERT

TRAVERSE CITY -- Grand Haven made its biggest trip of the season Tuesday to set up what will be its biggest match of the year.

The Buccaneers eliminated Traverse City West 25-20, 25-20, 25-12 in the Class A regional semifinal at Traverse City Central to set up a Thursday regional title match at Rockford.

"We've never won a regional title," Grand Haven coach Aaron Smaka said. "We've won our district seven of the last eight years and this is our third regional final. We're going to prepare, get ready and see what we can do."

Grand Haven (45-16) will face host and OK Red Conference rival Rockford. The Rams advanced with a straight-set win over Hudsonville.

The Titans, who won their sixth district title in seven years on Saturday, finished the season 19-18-3 after the loss.

"We never quite found our rhythm," TC West coach Lisa Placek said. "At times we actually played really well, but we didn't have that same rhythm we had on Saturday. That's just something you keep fighting to get and we didn't quite get there tonight."

Smaka said he felt his team got better as the match wore on Tuesday. Perhaps, the sluggish start was due to the team's longest trip of the year. Before this, Grand Haven's furthest destination was Kalamazoo.

"For us it was a totally different experience to make this long trip," Smaka said. "I know Traverse City schools do it all the time. You wonder with a half day of school and the long bus ride how the kids are going to react. I don't know if that was part of our slow start, but we picked it up and I was happy with how we played at the end."

Grand Haven picked up steam in the second game and led 20-10. West, however, fought back to close it to 22-18, but came up short in the end.

"The middle of that second game they started digging in and they got a little energy going and a little momentum," Placek said. "It's interesting, because when you play the teams from down state, it's harder to maintain that. They're better at taking you out of your rhythm."

The Buccaneers were able to put the match away on the strength of their hitters. Mindy Marks finished with 15 kills and five blocks, Emily Franks had 10 kills while Kristin Woods had seven blocks and seven kills.

"Even with that, it comes down to our passing with Alexa Weisgerber and Robyn Power," Smaka said. "They did a great job defensively for us as the night went along. A lot of times the offense gets the show, but without those kids back there doing it, we wouldn't get anywhere."

Power and Kristen Reenders had 14 digs while Alyssa VanderStel had 30 assists.

TC West had seven kills, four blocks and 11 digs from junior outside hitter Emily Ellison.

"The thing I love about Emily is she will come in strong every single time," Placek said. "She's got a great transition and she's really smart and hits high up the hands. And she's really good at hitting shots."

Titans seniors Gaby Muller, Ellen Patenaude and Courtney Saxton also had strong games. Muller had five kills and nine digs, Patenaude tallied five kills, 11 digs and the team's lone ace while Saxton had 14 digs.

Sophomore setter Paige Johns also had 26 assists.

"I think my overall impressions of the season were this was such a fun group to work with on a daily basis," Placek said. "I do have some amazing seniors and they are going to be missed. But I've got some really good youngsters coming up. They were really fun. We have fun at practice every single day. I think with the long hours, all the traveling and a long season, you have to find the joy in the sport. And I think I was able to find that every day with these kids."

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