Huron home district title bid starts impressively

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

If the Hurons opening act in Monday’s Class C district match in Rogers City is any indication of how the week will play out, the trophy won’t be leaving the school. The Hurons were dominant in game one and three of their match with Oscoda and came from behind late in game to gut out the middle contest, 25-10, 26-24, 25-16. ?In the first game we came out strong, in the second game we played down a little bit, which has been one of our weak points this season,? said coach Kristy Smolinski. ?We play, really, really strong and then in the next game we’re not sure what team is going to walk out on the floor. We pulled it together in the third game and took it in three, so I was happy with that.?

One of the major goals in the resurgence of the Huron volleyball program in ?09 is capturing the district trophy and not letting it leave school property. The next step toward the goal was defeating Alcona, the opponent Wednesday in the Rogers City High School gym (past press time). The district title game is Friday. ?We feel pretty confident with the rest of the week,? said Smolinski.

THE HURONS jumped out to a comfortable lead in game one, 9-3. At 17-7, Emily Marx had an ace and Rebecca Peacock blocked an Oscoda attack for a 19-8 lead, setting up Shelby Schleben’s five straight aces to close out an easy victory. Game two went a different direction, as Oscoda showed life in playing with Rogers City until the score was tied at 13.

Peacock’s relentless play at the net, swatting balls back like a pinball bumper and a Schleben ace, seemed like it could be the springboard for the home team (15-13), but the Owls capitalized on several Huron mistakes and went on a 7-1 run (20-16). After both teams hit several kills and serves out of bounds, the Owls delivered a cross-court kill for a two-point lead, 23-21, two points from a win.

A Schleben tip just in made it 23-22 and Logan Schuiteman?s ace tied the score at 23. Her next serve hit the net, though, giving Oscoda a 24-23 advantage. Peacock’s middle blast set up Amanda Smolinski’s kill for point 25 and Linnea Brege’s ace was the clincher. Coach Smolinski told the girls ?Let’s just get it done and not have an extra game. They just made a decision to get it done in three.? Oscoda’s points in game three were few and far between in the early going. At 6-3, Smolinski had a kill and a pair of aces (9-3) and was followed by a Schuiteman k

ill and a Marx ace (11-4). After an Oscoda timeout, Schleben and Schuiteman came back with kills and Smolinski bumped the ball over for another point (14-4). Marx then ripped the ball from the serve line in the middle of Oscoda?s defense (15-4) for an ace. The Owls came back with some garbage points down the stretch. PEACOCK AND Smolinski both had 10 kills, while Schleben finished with 10 aces. The digs are as follows: Smolinski 34, Brege 27 and Marx 20. At the conference meet, the Hurons got one from Sault Ste. Marie to spoil their chance at an outright title. Instead, they settled for a tie with Cheboygan.

Smolinski?s girls took third. Rudyard was fourth and was followed by St. Ignace and Newberry tied for fifth. ?I think the Sault was surprised on how much we had improved and we hung with them both games. We went into the next match with Cheboygan and again played well with them but lost both games,? the coach said. The stats are as follows: Smolinski led the weekend in kills with 24 and had 52 digs, 15 set assists, six blocks: Peacock, 22 kills, 10 blocks; Schuiteman 20 kills, team leading 60 digs, three blocks; Brege 40 set assists, 30 digs, team leading 20 ace serves; Marx, 58 digs, four blocks, 14 ace serves; Rachel Lewandowski 17 digs; Taylor Darling one kill and three ace serves.