RC advances to district semifinals with win over Harbor Springs
by Richard Lamb—- Advance Editor
Rogers City rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win games three and four (25-20, 28-30, 16-25, 25-20, 15-10) over Harbor Springs in the best of five match in the first round of district volleyball action Tuesday at Boyne City. ?It got a little scary,? said coach Mary Fairbanks. ?We had a little scare there like they did in Onaway the other night, when we got into that kind of mode where they were fighting to put the ball back in play and forgot what they were really supposed to be doing out there.?
THE HURONS fell down 9-2 in game four and faced elimination before Fairbanks reminded the senior dominated team to get it together or their season, and high school volleyball careers, would end. ?Now is the time, we need to be the team. We don?t what to leave it like this,? she told them from the sidelines. ?I?m real proud of them, the way they came back, and had some fun out there, especially at the end.? Next up for the Hurons is a match with Boyne City in the district semifinals Saturday at noon in Boyne City. The Hurons lost to the Ramblers two weeks ago, but Fairbanks is looking for better things this time around. ?I?m sure we won?t see the same Boyne City team, because they like to move things around. I think we are pretty well prepared. We know what they have and know what they can do. We hope we will have enough practice on our defense to do our best.?
THE TURNING point of Tuesday?s match came with Jenny Fleming serving. A kill by Kaitlin Klingshirn, a block by Ashley Basel and another Klingshirn kill brought the score to 9-7. Then Moni Cercone caught fire, tipping one winner, slamming home one kill down the left sideline, and then directing a third kill from her left hitter position to the opposite side along the net. Two errors by Harbor Springs gave the Hurons the lead at 13-12, and Basel?s ace serve caused Harbor to call a timeout. Harbor tied the score at 15-15, then two kills by Fleming, and an ace from Elly Plath made the score 20-
In the deciding game, Rogers City got out to a 7-1 lead, after Plath?s ace, and Harbor called time out to stop the rally, but there was no slowing down the Hurons. A tip by Klingshirn, then an ace serve by Fleming made the score 10-2. Harbor cut the lead to 11-6, but two kills by Cercone stopped that rally. After an error by Harbor, the Rams rallied for three points to cut the lead to 14-10. But Cercone slammed home the championship point to move the Hurons into the next round of play.
STATISTICALLY, CERCONE led the team with 22 kills and added six digs. Fleming had 10 kills, eight aces, three blocks, and seven digs. Klingshirn had 10 kills, two blocks, and 11 digs while Plath had 37 set assists. Lauren Hanson had 10 digs and Basel registered seven assists, four aces and six digs. Whittemore-Prescott and Alcona played the other pre-district game Thursday at Hale, after petitioning the MHSAA to move the contest closer to their schools. The winner of that match will play Hale at 10 a.m. Saturday. The district finals will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday at Boyne City High School.