Hurons fall to young Pellston team in district volleyball finals
A young and upcoming Pellston Hornet volleyball team ended the run of the Hurons Saturday at the district finals. Rogers City fell in three straight games 25-20, 25-21, 25-16. Facing a talented team of mostly sophomores and juniors, the Hurons came up one match short of moving on to the regionals, ending a successful 42-11 season for first-year coach Mary Fairbanks.
“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Fairbankssaid. “We knew they were very tough defensively, very smart and well coached.” Young, too, much to the delight of Pellston coach Tim McNitt, in his ninth year as varsity coach after five as the JV mentor. The Hornets used a balanced attack built around sophomore setter Jill NcNitt, the coach’s daughter, and sophomore outside hitter Holly Burkhart, but the Hornets have many other options.
“It is nice to have a variety of hitters,” NcNitt said. McNitt had a plan to keep big Huron hitters Becky Bruning and Ashley Fleming, each all-state caliber players, from dominating the game. “Our goal was to slow the ball down against Fleming and Bruning because they are great hitters. We knew we couldn’t stop them, but we tried to slow them down.”
TO GET TO the district finals, the Hurons powered by Inland Lakes in three straight games (25-12, 25-15, 25-13) and then did the same to Harbor Springs (25-15, 25-21, 26-24) in the semifinals. In the second game of the opening round with Inland Lakes, the Hurons broke a 9-9 tie when senior setter Carrie Haselhuhn set up Bruning for a kill down the middle. Then with senior Megan Hanson serving, the Hurons reeled off eight of the next nine points to go up 18-12. They closed out the game behind the serving of Sarah Patterson in the 25-15 win.
IN THE deciding game of the match, Fleming’s kill to the right corner, off a quick set by Hanson, started another Huron run which made the score 14-3. With Simone Kapala serving, Fleming delivered another smash from the middle hitter position. Inland Lakes got hot, closing the gap to 14-8 before Fleming stepped up to serve. In five points won on her serve, two came on aces, as the Harbor players couldn’t handle her rocket shot to the back row. Rogers City won 25-13 to move within a match away from the district finals.
On the other side of the bracket, Pellston defeated Onaway and Boyne City in six straight games to move into the district finals. The Hurons had to defeat a stubborn Harbor Springs team, which had bounced them from district play a year ago. The first game started off with the Hurons flexing their muscle. Sophomore Dana Fairbanks had an ace serve around the kills of Bruning and Fleming, who used sets from Haselhuhn and Hanson. Fairbanks delivered another ace to make the score 15-11 them Kapala’s ace scored a point for a 21-12 lead. Haselhuhn passed to Bruning for a canon shot to the floor for the winner in the 25-15 game.
GAME TWO of the district semifinals went back and forth with the score tied all the way to 9-9. Then Harbor got the next four points to take a 13-9 lead. Fleming’s emphatic kill began a Huron run, which took control of the game. Chelsie Brege served an ace, Fleming had another kill, and then added a block for another point. After that, Brege blasted another ace, before Haselhuhn’s tip-winner ended the run. When the smoke cleared, the Hurons were up 20-15. Harbor closed to 23-21, but the Hurons held on for a 25-21 win.
Momentum, always a big part of volleyball, swung to Harbor Springs in the early going of game three as the Rams faced elimination. Fleming’s kill, her ace serve, and a smash from Tiffiny Krueger gave the Hurons their first lead of game three at 7-5. Later in the game, Hanson’s ace gave the Hurons a 13-12 lead, after the Rams had led 12-8. The score was tied at 13-13 and 19-19 before Harbor moved to within a point of winning the game at 24-19. Then the Hurons caught fire, swinging momentum to their side as they won 26-24. Key plays in the rally were three kills by Bruning and a block by Fairbanks.
THAT SET UP the showdown with Pellston for the district trophy. The Hornets, who had a break from play while the Hurons were battling Harbor Springs, looked tentative as the Hurons built a 4-2 lead. Rogers City lost the lead at 11-10 as Pellston’s hitters began to warm up. Using an effective strategy of firing shots down the left side rather than attacking the middle, the Hornets went up 21-13 as the McNitt-to-Burkhart combo began to click. Fleming’s blast down the middle closed the gap to 24-20, but Burkhart drilled the next set down the left sideline to win game one for the Hornets.
GAME TWO found the Hurons trailing 8-3 when Coach Fairbanks called timeout to regroup. That got her team going briefly, but Pellston never lost the lead in its 25-21 win. Now the Hurons’ season came down to one game. Could they regain the rhythm which they had going since their undefeated run through the Straits Area Conference tournament, or would it be the end of the season? Unfortunately for the team, and the legion of fans who yelled support all day long, the season ended after the third game with Pellston. It looked at the outset that the Hurons would turn the match around as they jumped out to a 9-3 lead after Haselhuhn set up Fleming for a blast to the floor in the left corner. The Hurons led 14-10, then lost 12 of the next 13 points to go down 22-15 as the big Mo swung back to the Hornets.
Fleming’s kill made it 22-16, but Pellston scored the next three points to gain the championship. Fleming had an outstanding day with 44 kills, five blocks, eight aces, and 14 digs. Bruning had 33 kills with six ace serves and 27 digs. Haselhuhn had 37 set assists while Hanson had 35 assists and three aces. Dana Fairbanks had 14 kills with five blocks, five aces and 14 digs.
THE MATCH CLOSED the high schoo
Other members of this year’s team included juniors Sarah Patterson, Jessica Hempel, and Jenny Smith, sophomores Dana Fairbanks, Simone Kapala, Chelsie Brege, and Tiffiny Krueger, and freshman Jenny Fleming.
LAST THURSDAY, the Hurons traveled to Cheboygan for matches against the host team and Harbor Light Christian, ranked number four in Class D. Rogers City swept Harbor Light (39-6-4), 25-20, 25-17, and 15-10. The Hurons lost, three games to one, against Cheboygan (23-11-1).