White Team

25 – 13, 25 – 14, 15 – 13

Whitmore Lake’s White team didn’t waste any time against Greehills last night.  After strong serving by Hailey Bowers and Claire Birely, the Trojans were already on top by a score of 15 – 7.  By the time Bowers finished serving her second time Whitmore Lake increased their lead to 21 – 9.  A few rotations later, Whitmore Lake finished the set with a 25 – 13 victory.  In the second set, Bowers continued to serve well and Lanie Short showed her ability at the serving line.  Again, it didn’t take long for the Trojans to claim another victory with a nearly identical score of 25 – 14.  Now it was time for Whitmore Lake to finish the trifecta.  After scoring the first four points, Whitmore Lake became a little complacent and Greenhills started to score some points.  Soon the set was tied at seven.  From there, Whitmore Lake would take a one point lead, then Greenhills would tie it back up.  This continued for many rotations and the teams were tied again all the way up to 13.  When the Trojans took their one point lead after a side out, Birely sealed the set serving the final ace in the third set, for another win at 15 – 13.  The girls are moving much better as the season progresses and are able to get more and better volleys.  Bowers used her overhand serve for the first time in a match and scored her first point off the newly demonstrated skill.  Birely also tested out her overhand serve, showing her improvement in the game.  The win put the White team with a winning record for the first time since week one with a 5 – 4 (3 – 4 MIAC) record.

Red Team

25 – 18, 25 – 16, 15 – 7

Last night the red team faced off against Hope Christian for the second time.  In the first set, Whitmore Lake couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with their serve, and aside from Abby Muchow, missed every serve during the first complete rotation allowing the much weaker Hawks stay in the game with a score of 8 – 7.  The serving troubles continued during the second complete rotation, now with Whitmore Lake up 16 – 13.  Finally a rare third complete rotation, Whitmore Lake servers were able to hit a couple of serves in a row and took a 25 – 18 win capped off with two aces by Isla Sterzik.  In the second set, the teams continued to play even and were tied at 12 after the first full round of servers.  Finally, Ally St. Charles decided enough of this and served five aces in a row for a 19 – 14 lead.  Emma Harrison followed that up with four aces of her own, nearly finishing the set with the Trojans on top 23 – 15.  Lanie Short served the final point in the set for a 25 – 16 win.  Now it was time to send Hope Christian winless.  Haley Duncan got Whitmore Lake rolling with three aces, then St. Charles brought back her magic with six more aces and Whitmore Lake had a commanding lead, 12 – 3.  It looked like the Hawks were going to make it interesting, but Sterzik again finished the set with an ace for the 15 – 7 victory, taking all three sets to match the White team.  The win gave the Red team an astonishing 8 – 1 (7 – 1 MIAC) record.

Black Team

25 – 8, 25 – 9, 15 – 9

For round two against Greenhills, Whitmore Lake’s Black team played Gryphons A team this time.  After warm-ups, it looked like Greenhills might be able to give the Trojans a match, but \unfortunately for Gryphons, Whitmore Lake came roaring right out of the gates and played one of their best matches of the season, especially at the serving line with only three missed serves the entire night.  In the first set, Whitmore Lake was serving and playing well on both offense and defense, but a few unforced errors kept the Trojans from really launching during the first few rotations, but were still up 6 – 2.  When Phoenni Lou Wilson stepped onto the launch pad, the countdown began as she served four in a row.  If that wasn’t good enough, Oscar Valentine blew the lid off her trash can, firing seven more in a row for a 19 – 4 lead.  Chan Chan the volleyball woman Cook put the Trojans into orbit serving the final three points to rule the galaxy with a 25 – 8 drubbing of the Gryphons.  Whitmore Lake wasn’t about to come back to Earth now and Mila Proimos gave Whitmore Lake their first point in the second set, then Cook added three more for a 5 – 3.  That was the closest Greenhills would ever be to the Trojans because next up was Grace the Ace Bennardi who dropped in six of her namesake serves and added two more points before the Gryphons could stop their heads from spinning and called a time out.  Grace the Ace added another two for a total of 10 points in a row before Greenhills could get a stop.  Whitmore Lake was cruising with a 16 – 4 lead.  When Valentine rolled her trash can to the serving line this time she launched her lid even higher following the lead of Bennardi and going six for six on aces and taking the Trojans to the penultimate point at 24 – 8.  A side out later, the set was over with another out of this world victory at 25 – 9.  In the third set, the Trojans were serving up aces like light in a black hole.  Nothing could be returned.  When Greenhills could return a serve, Whitmore Lake was really working hard on adding rocket fuel into their offense, generating star struck power on their hits.  This allowed the Gryphons to hang around for a while and actually held a 9 – 8 lead after their first five servers.  Proimos came off the bench to pinch serve the Trojans back into orbit but ended up sending Whitmore Lake into a different universe serving the final six points adding four more aces to her stats and a final score of 15 – 9.  Whitmore Lake really played well with good communication and smart decisions on the court.  Valentine started showing the power she can put behind her hits and Maria Hentnik is building up her resumé as middle blocker, not letting the ball get past the net on her watch.  The Real Slim Sheedy stood up and had a great all-around night with outstanding passing, serving and hitting.  José Marcum got back to where she belonged with her incredible defense.  The dominating win sends the Black team’s record to 6 – 2 (4 – 1 MIAC).  The girls will play their final home match of the season at the high school for their breast cancer awareness pink out match on Thursday against Parkway Christian.