White Team

20 – 25, 5 – 15

Last night, Whitmore Lake hosted Inter-city Baptist and the Chargers got off to a quick start against Whitmore Lake jumping out to a 5 – 0 lead and after one full rotation, were up 19 – 7.  The Trojans weren’t giving up and slowly mounted their comeback attempt.  Behind the strong serving of Kylie Burianek and Claire Birely, Whitmore rallied back to 20 – 24, but couldn’t quite finish the job and dropped the first set 20 – 25.  In the second set, Inter-city’s more experienced squad put together a string of 13 points off their opening server before the Trojans could stop them with a side out.  Hailey Bowers tried to start another comeback putting four points on the board off her serve, but that was the end with the chargers finishing the set and match 15 – 5.  Isabella Ruse had an amazing pass to save a point for the Trojans and Grace Hyland played solid on serve receive.  Bowers again showed her scrappiness, tracking down several balls and putting them back across the net.  The loss drops the White team’s record to 1 – 1 (1 – 1 MIAC).

Red Team

25 – 19, 11 – 15

Brooklyn Blumenstiel gave Whitmore Lake their first points putting the Trojans up 4 – 2.  From there the set stayed close for several rotations.  Abby Muchow’s serve gave Whitmore Lake a little breathing room with the Trojans up 11 – 7 and after Ally St. Charles finished serving Whitmore Lake opened things up a little, taking 17 – 11 lead.  Inter-city Baptist tried to make things interesting with a side out and scoring four more off their own serve making it 17 – 18, but when Keirra Leonard got to the serving line, she put together a string of four points to close the first set for a big Trojan win at 25 – 20.  In the second set, the teams exchanged points until the third rotation when the Chargers scored six points.  Two rotations later, the set was over the Inter-city Baptist taking the second one 15 – 11.  With both teams winning a set, the tie breaker for the match came down to point differential, giving Whitmore Lake the win.  The Red team’s record moved to 2 – 0 (2 – 0 MIAC).

Black Team

15 – 25, 25 – 20, 15 - 11

Whitmore Lake’s Black team showed up for a volleyball game but ended up in a tennis match.  Inter-city Baptist insisted on playing one hit volleyball, launching the ball over the net on one hit whenever possible, where the Trojans were playing three hit attacking volleyball.  This gave Whitmore Lake three chances to make a mistake on every serve compared to the one chance the Chargers were taking.  Although the Trojans were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing, their attacks were having a hard time finding the court on the other side of the net.  By the end of the second rotation, Inter-city Baptist held a commanding 10 – 3 lead.  The Trojans were calm and collected, knowing they were the better team, just waiting for their offense to hit its groove.  Unfortunately, their groove never came in the first set and the Chargers claimed opener 25 – 15.  Still unnerved by the first set loss, Whitmore Lake went to work in the second.  Things were starting to click in the second set, but Whitmore Lake couldn’t pull away from the Chargers.  After one full rotation, Whitmore held a slight edge, 9 – 7.  Whitmore Lake held that two point advantage until Hailey “Oscar” Valentine got to the serving line and dished up six in a row, nearly closing out the set and putting the Trojans up 23 – 16.  Maria Hentnik served the final point, tying the match at one apiece with a 25 – 20 second set win.  The pressure was on.  Whitmore had to win the 15 point final set to keep their undefeated season on track.  With things going better in the second set, Whitmore Lake was confident they could take the third.  A lot of miscommunication was making the Trojans look more like the Bad News Bears, and Inter-city Baptist took advantage of it jumping out to an early 9 – 3 lead, halfway to the finish line.  Things were looking dire for the Trojan, but Stella finally got her groove back and Grace “The Machine” Bennardi served eight straight points giving Whitmore Lake their first lead of the set at 11 – 9.  The teams traded side outs, then it was Valentine to the rescue again, dropping in two great serves for an exciting Trojan comeback victory, 15 – 11.  Besides her strong serving, Valentine became the mop, keeping the entire court floor clean, never letting a ball drop without a touch.  In the final set, Hailey Sheedy came alive making numerous great passes to the setters, jumpstarting the Trojan offense and Mila Primos continues to be an outstanding floor leader.  The hard-fought win keeps the Black team’s early season record perfect at 2 – 0 (2 – 0 MIAC).