Conference trophy goes to Huron volleyball squad

Perfect. The Huron volleyball team powered to the Straits Area Conference championship with an undefeated day at home in the conference meet Saturday. Rogers City, host of the event, defeated all six conference opponents to finish as champs. The Hurons came into the meet 5-1, trailing Cheboygan at 6-0. Each team played two games with every other team in a round-robin format.

The Hurons started the day with wins over Alcona (25-10, 25-12), Sault Ste. Marie (25-13, 25-11) and St. Ignace (25-11, 25-15) before the much-anticipated match with Cheboygan. Rogers City took both games from the Chiefs in convincing fashion to get the edge on the title. The Hurons won the first game 25-20, and took over the conference lead with a 25-18 win in game two. Cheboygan later lost two games to Rudyard while the Hurons defeated Newberry (28-26, 25-12) and Rudyard (25-18, 25-16), securing the title for first-year varsity coach Mary Fairbanks and her charges.

“It was perfect,” Fairbanks said. “We couldn’t have asked for anything better. We’ve been working on our quick attack, because we knew we were going to need it today and down the road. We executed it very well.” The coach did see room for improvement, but was pleased with the overall performance. “We have been struggling with our serves somewhat, but we did well today,” she said.

Ashley Fleming notched 63 kills on the day, adding 11 blocks, 14 ace serves and 13 digs. Becky Bruning tallied 29 kills, nine blocks, seven aces, and 18 digs. Carrie Haselhuhn had 51 assists, while Megan Hanson added 35 assists. Dana Fairbanks had 18 kills, 11 blocks, 10 aces, and 17 digs. Tiffiny Kruger added 21 kills, five blocks and 11 digs. Rogers City finished the conference season with a 17-1 record and is 39-9 overall. The Hurons are honorable mention in the most recent coaches’ poll.

MONDAY THE Hurons hosted Brimley, taking three quick games from the Bays. Coach Fairbanks honored seniors Ashley Fleming, Carrie Haselhuhn, Megan Hanson, and Becky Bruning before the game. The coach praised the four for their hard work and dedication to the sport. Rogers City dominated the match by scores of 25-12, 25-10, and 25-7.

Fleming had 12 kills and three assists while Hanson added seven kills, four aces and nine assists. Haselhuhn had seven assists, four aces, and four digs and Bruning had four kills and seven digs on the night. The team will play a tri-meet tonight in Cheboygan with the hosts and Harbor Light Christian Academy in a tune-up for districts.

NEXT UP for the Hurons is Saturday’s district tournament in Onaway. Rogers City will play Inland Lakes at 11:30 a.m. with the winner to take on Harbor Springs at 2:30 p.m. Onaway plays Pellston at 10 a.m. with the winner taking on Boyne City at 1 p.m. Pellston, which has joined Rogers City as a top ten team in the coaches’ poll all season long, could meet the Hurons in the finals, should they both advance in the first rounds. Should Rogers City win the opening round, the Hurons would face a rematch with Harbor Springs, the team that sent them packing in the first round of the districts last season. The winner of the

district tournament will advance to the Manton regional March 5. The quarterfinals are set for March 8 in Charlevoix with the state semifinals planned for March 10 and the finals March 12 in Kalamazoo.

LAST THURSDAY the Hurons took a match with Rudyard. Rogers City lost the first game 25-16, then came back to win the next three, 25-13, 25-13, 25-15. Fleming and Bruning each had eight kills while Hanson recorded 10 assists. The junior varsity has a season record of 28-14-3 under coach Chris Shay after a win over Brimley Monday. Four ace serves by Sarah Pines and five kills by Lauren Hanson highlighted the win.

The Hurons won all three games (25-20, 25-10, 15-12). “They are a great bunch of girls who played well. Hopefully they will all be back next year. It was an easy group to coach,” Shay said. “We started off really strong then had a little lull where we didn’t play very well. Now at the end of the season, they came back really strong.”

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