Leland claims volleyball title

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Douglas Tesner
Douglas Tesner

November 13, 2009

Comets sweep Central Lake in Class D finale for first regional since 2006

BY JAMES COOK The Record Eagle Fri Nov 13, 2009, 08:13 AM EST

BUCKLEY -- A sign saying "Tradition" was hanging in the Buckley gymnasium opposite the Leland bench.

And the Comets kept that going on Thursday.

With a 25-17, 27-25, 25-22 win over Central Lake in the Class D regional final at Buckley, Leland won its first regional title since the Comets' state title team in 2006.

"We're starting a new tradition of winning volleyball again," said Comets senior hitter Sarah Ruszel, who was second on the team with 10 kills. "We kind of faltered for awhile, but now we're bringing it back. We were just so excited. This is the first time any of us have been to regionals."

The team received a message from the star of the 2006 team, Alisha Glass, before the game.

"She e-mailed (former coach) Laurie Glass and told us that we could do it and she has faith in us," sophomore hitter Elizabeth McKee said. "It really helped our team. We were all pumped up in the locker room."

Alisha Glass is now starring at top-ranked Penn State, but the Comets had some stars of their own on Thursday.

Samantha Nowak was one of those. The middle hitter had a half dozen blocks, including three solos, as Leland was able to take a little steam out of Central Lake standout Jasmine Hines.

"I really think the difference for us was blocking," McKee said. "We really improved this game. Sammy Nowak was on, and really set the tone in the beginning of the game."

"Central Lake has that beautiful Jasmine Hines," second-year Leland coach Beth Osorio said. "She's 6-foot-3 and a beautiful hitter. So our biggest goal was to shut her down when we could. And our blockers really got up and we had some major blocks on her, which was key for us."

Leland was able to get out to a 15-11 lead in the first game, thanks in part to Nowak's blocks, then closed it out with a pair of Nowak aces and a McKee spike.

"We started off with a couple of big blocks (on Hines), which is pretty hard to do because she's a big hitter," Ruszel said. "We watched where she was hitting on Tuesday night, so our libero, Melissa (Loredo), was anticipating where she was hitting."

The Trojans took an early 4-0 lead in the second game on two aces and a block by Heidi Hicks and a Hines slam. The teams battled back and forth until Central Lake eventually mounted a 20-14 lead on a Hines spike.

But Leland came back on the strength of a pair of blocks from Hines to tie the game and closed it out on a Ruszel stuff for a 27-25 win.

Working around the Hines in the middle may be difficult, but Leland did its best to minimize her impact.

"We really noticed (Hines) hits to the right, so we pushed our block (that way)," McKee said. "She hits really hard."

"We really tried to serve to key spots to disrupt their offense so Jasmine didn't get the ball as much," Osorio said.

The third game was close all the way and neither team ever led by more than four. Central Lake took its only lead of the set on a Sheila Crouse kill for a 19-18 advantage. But the Comets were able to get to 24-22 and then executed a perfect bump-set-kill with Loredo getting the ball to setter Hanna Schaub, who set up McKee for the final spike of the game and a 25-22 third-set score.

"Our libero did a fantastic job passing in the back," McKee said. "She really was on tonight, and that helped improve our offense so we could hit."

This likely isn't the last to be heard from Central Lake, which has been in the regionals the last four years and won its first regional game in school history on Tuesday against McBain Northern Michigan Christian.

"It was a nice mini victory for us," Trojans coach Elissa Shafer said, "and hopefully we'll have more in the future."

There's a decent chance of that, as the Trojans didn't have a single senior starter this season.

"The girls have never really made it this far before, and there was a lot of nerves going on," Shafer said. "Also, our serving wasn't very good. We lost the game because of our serve."

Hines led the Trojans with 13 kills and five blocks, while Taylor Neighorn had 27 assists and Hicks added seven kills. Crouse had a perfect serving night.

Leland was led by 14 kills from KcKee. Schaub added 25 assists and 11 digs, Loredo had 15 digs, Nowak chipped in four kills, six digs, six blocks and two aces and Annalise Povolo had five digs. Tantzi Snyder and Povolo each had two kills.

The Comets will play Beal City in Tuesday's quarterfinal game at Big Rapids. The Aggies defeated Muskegon Western Michigan Christian 25-12, 25-23, 25-22 in their regional final Thursday in Beal City.