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St. Mary Catholic Central prevails in all-Monroe final at Bedford Invitational January 3, 2007 By Jim Jicha Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central started their season with a bang last week by winning the Bedford Varsity Volleyball Invitational. The Kestrels, a state champion contender in Class C, downed hometown rival Monroe 25-16, 25-21 for the title. They bested several other strong Class A opponents during the day. Most of their opponents already had one or two tournaments under their belts, and Airport had won the Hartland tourney. In pool play, St. Mary topped Ann Arbor Pioneer, then rallied from 18-24 to beat Wyandotte Roosevelt 25-18, 26-24. In power pool they knocked off a Saline squad loaded with three future collegians: outsides Kara Zawisza (University of Montevallo) and Kelsi Bitter (Youngstown State), and 6’0” middle Nicole Whiddon (UNC Charlotte). Then they outlasted Airport, right after the Jets had toppled host Bedford. The Kestrels advanced through the Gold Bracket with wins over Jackson Northwest and Dexter. They took home a 7-0 record and a trophy. The finale featured a great spiking and blocking battle between St. Mary’s 6’3” Purdue bound middle Kristen Arthurs and Monroe’s 6’2” middle/outside Michigan State recruit Megan Schatzle. St. Mary surged ahead 8-3 in game one on a six point run fueled by Arthurs and right side Jill Whitman. Monroe rallied with five unanswered points, getting two kills each from Schatzle and 5’10” outside Chae Small. St. Mary moved back in front by three, with setter Alex DelPiombo contributing a service ace. The teams then traded a few points. With the score 17-14, Kestrel libero Haley Stein came up with three defensive gems, twice digging Schatzle tips, to spark a four point run. The final two points came on a tip by Arthurs, followed by a cross court blast from middle Beth Terrasi. In game two the Kestrels held small leads early, then the Trojans moved in front 12-11 and 13-12. With the score deadlocked at 14 and the big guns in back row, Terrasi sparked a rally, winning a play at the net and adding two more kills. Defensive specialist Laura Scherer served four points, including an ace, to give SMCC a 19-14 edge. Monroe rallied behind two big blocks from middle Bridgette Winger and outside Keilah Blohm. Shortly after, Schatzle crunched a short set to cut the margin to 20-19. That started a war with Arthurs who, on the next volley, averted a tie by converting a miss-timed set into a well-placed tip. But Schatzle came back with a block of Arthurs’ next attempt. Arthurs reposted with a terminating spike off the slide. Schatzle then hammered a spike that was blocked over and out, and Arthurs retorted with a nicely placed hit into a hole on the right. It would have been Schatzle’s turn (from back row), but Arthurs was having none of that. Rotating to back row herself, she came up huge with a high short serve that dropped like a rock for an ace. This was followed with another hard-to-get serve, and Scherer put the resulting overpass, the match, and the championship trophy on ice. The field for this seasons’ tournament was stronger than last year even though mostly the same schools were involved. Both SMCC and Monroe are on the up. So is Saline, and had they not fallen way behind Monroe in game one of their semifinal, the Hornets might have had a rematch with the Kestrels, who beat them in pool play. Monroe and Saline traded errors and leads in game one en route to a deadlock at 10. At that point, Schatzle spiked a kill to the right corner and the roof fell in on the Hornets. With libero Brett Newcomer serving, Schatzle scored two big blocks and delivered another termination as the Trojans roared ahead 17-10. And in short order the score was 23-15. Kelsi Bitter came up with a block to keep Saline’s slim hopes alive. Then a Monroe defender inadvertently dug a Saline spike in foul territory (unable to stop she slid right under it). She might as well have thrown the ball into a real hornet’s nest. Saline scored that point and swarmed back to a tie, as Jen Galbreath and Nicole Whiddon teamed for a block, Whiddon encored with a booming block of a back court spike by Schatzle, and Galbreath and Whiddon scored spikes. Monroe contributed two hitting errors that were helped by fiendish serves from Bitter to their right line. Finally, Blohm scored a kill off a Hornet block to staunch the run. That brought Schatzle to the fore and she administered the coup de grace. Saline led early in game two, with Monroe rallying to go up 16-14. But Saline again closed nicely with an 11-3 run, ignited by three straight kills from Whiddon, Bitter and Kara Zawisza, and tied the match. Monroe used a six point run, with Schatzle serving, to go up 7-1 in the tiebreaker. Cassie Heller and Small chipped in with two kills each. Saline scored seven of nine to close to 9-8, but a kill by Winger brought Schatzle to front row and she demolished a short set, blocked Whiddon and eventually scored match point on a tip that was dug four times. Dexter had the honor of knocking Bedford out of the tournament in the first round, something which one reporter said had not happened in their December invitational in over twenty years. The Mules had won eleven of the last twelve holiday tourneys. Up 21-17 in game one, the Dreadnaughts scored the final four points, with setter Rose Lee spiking a kill down the line to start the run. Senior middle Camille Hanks scored the final two, pounding a short set from Lee for the winner. Lee served up two aces to start game two. Bedford quickly tied it, but then committed a lift that ended a great volley. That brought Katie Ryan to the line and she served up seven points, including two aces, to put the Mules in a deep hole. Sophomore Colleen Lasecki, Courtney Krips and Hanks scored a total of four kills and Lee added a dump. The Mules closed to 14-11 only to fall back 19-12. But they rallied again and got to within a point, led by Jacquelyn Blaida’s hitting and an ace by sophomore Alexa Holly. Lasecki smoked a cross court spike for Dexter, but Blaida teamed on a block with sophomore Tara Lohr to cut the margin to 22-21. Alas, the Mules were undone by two long hits and, following two Dexter mistakes, Sonya Lewis put the match away. Airport looked strong in pool play, and they were the only team to take St. Mary to three. The first two games of that match were tied at 22, with the teams trading wins. A dump by setter Theresa Jones in game two started a rally as Airport came back from 16-20 to win. Freshman Jessica Nagy contributed a block and two kills, and Avery Bodenmiller chipped in with one. The Jets trailed only 9-8 in the tiebreaker, but a service break brought Arthurs to front row and Airport could not stop her. The Jets were tenacious on defense with junior libero Alicia Hooten and defensive specialists Brittany Hunt and Chelsey Smith. Airport defeated Bedford in power pool play. Nagy and senior SarahBaker led Airport in their second game. Ann Arbor Pioneer gave Saline a tussle in game one of their quarterfinal match, led by hitters Andrea Gregorka and Hannah Shiff. But with the game knotted at 19, the Hornets scored and Zawisza served out. The Pioneers lost a couple of big hitters to graduation last year from a team that stunned East Kentwood in a Bedford Invitational in February. They suffered another blow when 6’3” middle Grace Luczak elected to forego her senior year to pursue an Olympic dream in rowing. But setter Alicia Beckett is back and she has two talented 6’0” sophomores to feed in Vivien Reece and Maddy Kreykes. Senior libero Abby Jensen leads the passing department. This team could be trouble depending on how fast everyone improves. Wyandotte Roosevelt won the Silver. They struggled with Adrian in the semifinal, winning in three, then trounced Walled Lake Central in the final. Leading players for the Bears this season are senior setter Megan Heuer, 6’0” junior middle Karissa Johnson, senior hitters Chelsea Stover and Katie Bickerstaff and outside/defender Megan Fricke. Walled Lake defeated Haslett 27-25, 25-11 to reach the final. The Vikings were led by senior outside Nicole Fresorger and sophomore middle Sarah Glancy. Haslett was led by Hadiyah Olowolafe and Brianna Ratkiewicz. Both are 6’1” middles. Notably, Olowolafe will play for west coast power California Poly - San Luis Obispo next fall. Ironically, it was the 17th ranked Mustangs who knocked Michigan out of this year’s NCAA tourney!
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