Trojans trounce Cardinals in opening round of districts

BESSEMER - Those who attended the MHSAA Class D District 127 Volleyball Tournament in the House of Noise on Monday came away thinking the 2014-15 version of the Forest Park Lady Trojans is every bit as good as the 2013-14 team that featured Lexi Gussert.

Crystal Falls Forest Park stormed through a good Wakefield-Marenisco team 25-9, 25-11 and 25-14.

Even Forest Park's coach Kim Bjork was impressed.

"We were real fired up tonight," Bjork said. "We leaned on Lexi a lot last year. This year we have more of a team. When things didn't go our way, we went to Lexi last year. This year we have three solid hitters, weapons at the net. It keeps the defense on its heels. We thought tonight might be our toughest game or most competitive, so we had to be ready. But you never know at tournament time. But tonight, we were very consistent with only a few lapses."

Wakefield-Marenisco coach Jessica Novascone said her team had not seen a team that hits the ball and serves as strongly as Forest Park.

"Plus it's tournament time with the noise, nerves, low ceiling, a combination of things," Novascone said. "And our service receiving was not up to par. We could have made a highlight film of our digs. But they played even better than when we saw them. The only way to practice against that is to play against teams like that. Our schedule didn't allow us to get ready for that."

Let the record show that the Lady Trojans blasted 21 kills, most of them of the booming variety and could have had more except for the Cardinals making some great digs and saves as they kept the ball in play diving for balls and going off the court to make plays.

Hallee Yon dug out seven digs and Lauren Grace had six more.

Forest Park aced W-M 16 times.

In game one, an intense, fired-up Forest Park team tried to send a little shock and awe at the Cardinals. With Libby Shamion serving, the Lady Trojans jumped to a 9-0 lead before hitting a shot long. But W-M doesn't scare easily and Grace and sophomore Darienne Korpi blocked two shots at the net and Grace's tip brought the Cardinals to within 9-5.

Forest Park put on a rally of its own as Susie Toivonen served seven straight points to go up 16-6.

The Lady Trojans kept blasting shots and W-M kept returning most of them, but Bjork said it hurt the opposition's offense.

"They dug up a lot of things, but they couldn't set up their offense," Bjork said. "We could set ours up effectively, but they were too busy digging up shots."

An example was when Forest Park took a 24-9 advantage. After W-M made two great saves on balls about to hit the floor, Forest Park won the point with a tip to an open spot on the court.

The second game was nip-and tuck early on and W-M looked like perhaps they had stabilized the match, when Rachel Obradovich slammed a big kill down the middle and the Cardinals tied the game at 9-9.

But then Shamion stepped up to serve and she nailed five aces in a row and with three more kills, CFFP surged to 17-9 lead.

The Lady Trojans served out the game with an ace from Annie Taylor and won 25-11.

W-M's Hallee Yon started game three with an ace and the Cardinals took a 3-0 lead. But Forest Park surged back behind Maria Stankewicz's five-point serving and regained the lead at 12-7.

Stankewicz had two service aces and Joselyn Thoreson served the final ace for the set and match.

Toivonen and Kayla Steiro lead Forest Park with seven kills and Taylor added five. Stankewicz dished out 21 assists and Shamion and Toivonen both had seven aces.

For the Cardinals, Hallie Yon blasted two kills, two aces and seven digs.

Grace played a good all-around game with five kills and six digs.

W-M ended their season with a sparkling 15-3 record and Novascone said this was the best season for the Cardinals since she began coaching.

"This was the highest skill level and most dedication we've had," Novascone said. "We had an upbeat, positive season. We really jelled and everyone got involved in the offense.

"We only have one senior leaving with our five juniors back and some good sophomores and freshmen coming up. We've had the middle school volleyball league for four years and its paid off.

"I'm definitely looking forward to next year."

On Wednesday, the tournament continues with Watersmeet taking on Bessemer at 5:30 and Ewen-Trout Creek plays Forest Park at 7 p.m.