Speedgirls advance to face Trojans in district final

BESSEMER - Bessemer advanced into the final round of the MHSAA Class D District 127 volleyball tournament by sweeping Watersmeet 25-18, 25-20 and 24-21 in the House of Noise on Wednesday night.

The powerful Crystal Falls Forest Park volleyball team rolled over a young Ewen-Trout Creek team 25-6, 25-1 and 25-19. The Speedgirls and Trojans will clash tonight at 6 p.m. in the championship game and Bessemer will have home court advantage.

Asked about the Watersmeet game, Bessemer coach Shelly Mettler had a simple answer.

"I liked it," Mettler said. "It's about time. We made some changes after our last lost to Watersmeet. We changed the whole offense and positions and players. It worked. We were inexperienced but played much better. That was our most consistent strong serving. It was a risk, but the changes payed off.

"We know no one expects anything from us and we've had a lot more lows than highs, so they will remember this one for a long time. The team stayed loud and the bench was vocal and were motivators. It was a big surprise."

In game one, the Lady Nimrods jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but sophomore Allyson Metas served the hat trick of three staight aces and the lead vanished.

The Speedgirls kept up the pressure as Jazzmyn McGeshick, Valerie Rowe and freshman Caitlin Lynch smashed kills and McGeshick served an ace and Lynch had a block in the middle. The Speedgirls went up 19-11.

Watersmeet's Frannie Zelinski answered with two aces, but Bessemer rolled to a 25-18 win.

Playing well in game two, the Speedgirls built leads of 8-3 and 13-8.

Behind long volleys by the Lady Nimrods, Bessemer's lead turned into a 14-14 tie. Bessemer sophomore Rachel Emery responded with a hit where the ball hung on the net and dropped in for a point. McGeshick's kill made it 22-18 and Bessemer took the set 25-20.

Game three was nip-and-tuck before two aces by Sierra Griffin and a Zelinski kill gave Watersmeet a 13-9 advantage.

But two kills by Emery, one from McGeshick and a Rowe ace along with some Watersmeet misfires gave Bessemer the set and match.

McGeshick led the Speedgirls with 13 kills and Emery nailed eight kills. Metas dished out 12 assists and had eight service aces. Nicki Lekies also had 10 assists.

The Speedgirls will be decided underdogs in their title game battle with CFFP, but Mettler is looking forward to the contest.

"We're excited to play Crystal and excited to play it here," Mettler said. "We get to host a championship game. There's no pressure on us. Just go play Crystal and leave it all on the floor."

With only one senior (Molly Niemi) and seven players on their team, Ewen-Trout Creek was overmatched against a Forest Park team that has won the district tournament every year since 2001.

"Crystal Falls has always been a great program," E-TC coach Brandon Ward said. "We're young and trying to get to that level. We were real underdogs, but we played as best we could. We only have one senior and we'll miss Molly Niemi next year. But we'll have six seniors next year. We're a small, young team but we improved and got a lot of experience this year. But the biggest thing about Crystal Falls is their consistency and they match up with anybody."

But the Panthers didn't back down and after Susie Toivonen's kill and tip gave the Lady Trojans a 2-0 advantage, E-TC's Marlene Lannet seemed to surprise Forest Park with a service ace down the middle.

Forest Park's Kayla Steiro had a big kill shot and another kill as the Lady Trojans went up 7-2.

Forest Park outscored E-TC 16-4 down the stretch to win 24-6.

Forest Park's Libby Shamion served ace, ace to open up a 5-1 lead in game two. When the lead increased, the Lady Trojans unleashed a flurry of kills, aces and tips and just about every shot seemed to score a point. The offensive onslaught produced a 25-1 victory.

Coach Kim Bjork said there are reasons Forest Park continues to be so good for so long and keeps winning district titles.

"It was my senior year in 2001 when the streak started," Bjork said. "We had very good coaches and all the coaches on our staff are Forest Park grads. They know the tradition and the success. It was instilled in us and we instill it in our players. The girls know it's a successful program and they don't want it to fade away. They want to keep it going. It feeds down the line."

In game three, Molly Niemi started the game with an ace off a defender's hands. But Forest Park's Journee Taylor slammed five aces in a row and kept serving until it was 10-2.

Forest Park subbed liberally and the Panthers got within 11-10. When E-TC's Skylar Anderson aced Forest Park, the slim lead was 16-15.

But Forest Park recovered to win 25-19.

Bjork is not taking Bessemer lightly in the district title game.

"Bessemer has some tall girls," Bjork said. "They have a couple of girls in the middle who are consistent, but I don't know a lot about them. Hopefully, we'll come out and play our kind of game."