SHELBY – Amanda Van Sickle did not mince words after the Hart volleyball team defeated Manistee 3-2 in the district semifinals Wednesday, Nov. 6.
“They’ve had their eye on playing Shelby in the district finals for a while now,” Van Sickle said. “We talked about it, you can’t look past Manistee. We have to get a win to be able to (move on and face Shelby.) They came into a little too confident and cocky knowing that we’ve beat (Manistee) before.”
Having watched Shelby defeat Mason County Central 3-0 in the game prior to theirs, one couldn’t blame the Pirates for having the Tigers on their mind. Any thoughts of what a district finals bout with a rival might look like, quickly dissipated as Manistee came out and tested Hart early.
The Mariners were fresh off a narrow 3-2 victory over Hesperia the night before, but showed no sign of struggles in the first two sets with Hart.
After battling even to start the first set, Manistee snagged a 9-6 lead over the Pirates. With several rallies lasting up to 40 seconds, each team took their turn grabbing points, only to hand the momentum to the other team. The lead the Mariners’ had accrued worked to their benefit, keeping them ahead late into the set.
Facing a 22-18 deficit, Hart worked their way back to a 24-24 tie, assuring extra points would be needed to finish the set. Once more, the teams took turns trading leads, but it was Manistee that came out on top, 28-26.
In the second set, Hart looked much more composed to start. The Pirates gained a quick 6-0 lead, only to watch it fade. A series of ties ended promptly when Hart jumped back on top at 20-16, but Manistee stole all momentum at the end, pushing them to a 25-23 win and a 2-0 advantage overall.
With their backs against the wall, Hart found their footing in the third set. Facing elimination the rest of the way, Hart had to play near perfect volleyball to keep themselves alive.
The Pirates, similar to the second set, jumped out to an early lead. This time, Manistee didn’t even stand a chance at climbing back in as Hart promptly slammed the door on any attempt the Mariners made, en route to a 25-18 win.
A huge piece of that third set victory was the Pirates’ aggressive play at the net. Brynn Russell, Leah Walker, Maryn Klotz, Jenna Babbin and Kelsey Copenhaver all had impressive plays that either resulted in points off a defensive block, or savvy ball tracking that allowed them to tip 50/50 balls to the ground on Manistee’s side of the court.
“That was huge. It builds the momentum and the back row feeds on that,” Van Sickle said. “When we have those tight balls at the net and you’re able to just pound it down and put it away, it carries the momentum for the next few points.”
That aggressive play at the net carried into the fourth set, allowing Hart to run away with a 25-11 victory.
Now even at 2-2 overall, Hart and Manistee entered the tie-breaking fifth set with both teams visibly exhausted.
“Relentless pursuit has been our motto the last couple of weeks,” Van Sickle said. “That really showed tonight on the court. We noticed that (our girls) were getting tired, but we told them they had to push through, right here, right now.”
Just 15 points shy of a district finals berth, both the Pirates and Mariners turned up the intensity in the final set.
The score stood even at 3-3 early, but Manistee broke ahead with a three point lead. Hart was quick to fight back, once again evening the score, this time at 6-6.
Manistee took multiple one-point leads in the middle of the fifth set, but Hart had an answer each time they did. Finally, the Pirates snagged a 10-9 lead and didn’t look back, claiming a 15-11 overall win to advance them to the district finals.
The Pirates were led by the efforts of Reese Smith (33 digs) and libero Alayna Schiller (26 digs) on defense. Russell and Babbin also chipped in three blocks each at the net. Copenhaver stuffed the stat sheet with 20 digs, 17 kills, 10 assists and three aces while Calyn Eisenlohr was the most effective offensive distributor with a team high 13 assists. Smith led the team in kills with 20.
Hart will now take on Shelby in hostile territory tonight, with the winner walking away district champions and advancing to the regional tournament hosted by Houghton Lake.
This will mark the second time Hart and Shelby have met this year. The Pirates gave the Tigers a run for their money in early September. Hart fell 3-1 but only lost one set by more than five points.
“Obviously we’d love to come away with a win (over Shelby), but (we need to) play every point,” Van Sickle said. “If something doesn’t go our way, we have to push past that and play our game.”
