9/27/23 Whitmore Lake at Hope Christian

White Team

13 – 25, 23 – 25

On their second road trip in a row, Whitmore Lake’s White team took on Hope Christian.  In the first set, Hope Christian won the coin toss and scored the first six points.  Whitmore Lake was having trouble serving and soon the score was 11 – 2.  Finally, the Trojans started to get some serves in and Hope Christian started having its own problems.  Whitmore Lake mounted a comeback behind the serving of Emma Leonard, but it was too little too late and Hope Chirstian won the first set 25 – 14.  In the second set, Whitmore Lake got off to a better start and turned the tables on Hope Christian with an early 9 – 3 lead, with Leonard’s serving again leading the way.  Slowly the Hawks started to climb back into the match and tied it up at thirteen.  Next came Hope Christian’s run of points scoring five in a row.  Now it was the Trojans turn to climb back into the match and before long it was knotted up again at 21.  Hope Christian scored the next two points then the teams traded side outs until Hope Christian made it to 25, winning with a two point edge 25 – 23.  As the match progressed, the girls got better and better with some very good passes and being more aggressive.  The loss drops the White team’s record to 2 – 4 (2 – 4 MIAC).

Red Team

25 – 14, 25 – 16

Last night at Hope Christian, Whitmore Lake showed off their superior skills and easily overpowered the Hawks.  In the first set, Brooklyn Blumenstiel served the first four points, three of which were aces.  Isla Sterzik was up next and served four more aces then Haley Duncan put in her ace and Whitmore Lake was up 11 – 2.  The Trojans had a couple of missed serves, then the aces were back with Lanie Short serving two more while also debuting her first overhand serve in a match.  By the end of the second full rotation, the set was over with Whitmore Lake winning 25 – 14.  With the easy first set win, Whitmore Lake was going to use the next set to work on some skills and rotations that would be beneficial in future matches.  Short was put in at setter and Emma Harrison played some back row.  Duncan and Keirra Leonard also gave their overhand serves a try.  This time it was Ally St. Charles’ turn to dish up some aces, adding five from her seven point serving run.  After one full rotation, Whitmore Lake was up 15 – 6.  The Hawks had a little fight left and narrowed the gap to three before the Trojans could get a side out.  The girls didn’t panic though and just went back to work.  St. Charles was throwing out aces like she was playing with a stacked deck of cards.  Her serve took the team to 23, adding three more aces to her stats.  Short tried to finish the match for Whitmore Lake, but her serve was just that, short.  It took another side out for Whitmore Lake to finish the set with another win at 25 – 16.  Whitmore Lake was hoping to work a little more on their offense, but the Trojan’s dominating serving didn’t allow Hope Chirstian many chances to send the ball back to the Trojan side of the net.  The Red team’s record improves to 5 – 1 (5 – 1 MIAC).  Whitmore Lake will see if they can match their performance against Hope Christian, when they travel to Roeper tonight for their third road match in a row.