SCOTTVILLE – Hart volleyball scored a third place finish in the WMC Rivers conference tournament Saturday, Oct. 26, defeating Hesperia, Ravenna and MCC.
The Pirates entered the day as the No. 3 seed, giving them a chance to climb through bracket play for the opportunity to reach the championship match.
Hart had no trouble in their opening action with Hesperia, taking the Panthers down in two quick sets to advance. The first set saw Hart take a quick 10-2 lead before closing it out with a 25-14 win. The second set ended in an identical 25-14 score.
North Muskegon – the second best team in the conference behind Shelby – awaited Hart in its second match of the day. That didn’t go quite as well as the first match with Hesperia, as the Pirates started off slow and were unable to recover. The Norsemen rolled past Hart in two sets, winning by scores of 25-17 and 25-13.
The loss pushed Hart out of contention for the top two spots in the conference, but left them in a battle to get as high as third. They started that road with a convincing win over Ravenna.
Against the Bulldogs, Hart cruised to a 25-8 win in the first set with little to no pushback from Ravenna. The Pirates had to fight a bit more in the second set as Ravenna gave them all they could handle in a 25-22 win for Hart.
That set the Pirates up for their final match of the day, taking on MCC to determine who would take third and fourth place respectively. Another tough set resulted in Hart taking a 25-22 win in the first set on the backs of their defense and digging ability. Hart had to overcome questionable calls on the court and other challenges in the second set, but still fell 25-20 to the Spartans.
A third and final set saw Hart adjust their rotation, helping them out to a quick lead that they turned into a 15-9 win to claim third outright.
Leading the way for Hart in all four of their games were Alayna Schiller, Brynn Russell, Calyn Eisenlohr, Jenna Babbin, Kelsey Copenhaver, Leah Walker, Makenna Carrier, Maryn Klotz and Reese Smith.
Smith ended her day with 33 digs, 30 kills, four assists, two blocks and an ace while Copenhaver had 42 digs, 33 kills, 17 assists and four aces. Eisenlohr went 96 percent at the service line, adding two aces, 22 digs, 32 assists and three kills. Schiller led the team with 73 digs from her libero spot.
Hesperia rebounded from their first match loss to Hart, taking on Holton in the loser’s bracket. That ended with the Panthers taking a large margin victory in set 1 (25-13) before squeezing out a second set victory (25-23).
The Panthers advanced to take on MCC, but couldn’t find the same rhythm, falling 25-16 and 25-10 in back-to-back sets. That set up Hesperia for a sixth place finish in the tournament.
