League champion Bruins looking for continued success in MACS tourney
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
TROY— A year ago Troy Bethany Christian ventured through a rare rebuilding year on the volleyball court.
The Bruins finished second in their conference — the first time since the winter 1998 they didn’t at least share a conference crown — and entered the Michigan Association of Christian Schools state tournament with a five-hundred record. Still, with a team of mostly underclassmen, Bethany Christian found a way to reach the Michigan Association of Christian School Division I state semifinals, erasing the rebuilding tag with a fine run.
This season with a far more experienced team, the Bruins found a way to win their league, the Fundamental Baptist Athletic Conference for the 13th time in the past 14 seasons, and behind playing a much tougher non-league schedule enter the MACS tournament with a little momentum.
“I think we are playing a lot better right now. We lost to some teams early in the season at a tournament but I think we’re a better team right now,” said Cheryl Tremper, who returned to the sidelines after taking a several-year hiatus. Tremper was the Bruins coach back in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
“We lost to some really good teams early in the year,” added Tremper. “We lost to (Pittsford) Freedom Farm (Christian) and they are really good and we lost a few other games,” said Tremper. “I think we might be able to be more competitive with some of those teams now.”
Although the Bruins are 9-7-1, they are a team that could make a run back to the MACS’ final weekend, which will be held Oct. 28-29 in Midland.
Troy Bethany, which won state titles in 2007, 2008 and 2009 behind a cast of club volleyball players, were 5-1 in the league this year, dropping one match to last year’s champ, Rochester Hills Christian. The Bruins ended up upsetting the Eagles in five games in last year’s state quarterfinals.
Again, the two will face off in a second-round MACS game Friday in Troy at 4 p.m.
“I think we can beat them. We lost to them one time and we simply did not play very well,” said Tremper. “I think we made up for that. When we played (Clinton Township Faith Christian) a second time, we came back from a big deficit and beat them. That was a key to our season.”
It also gave the Bruins the conference crown.
The Bruins could not have put together their fine small-school streak without players. There has been a steady pipeline of athletes that have kept this team as a state power in the MACS ranks.
Senior Staci Green has been a big part of the success, as the fourth-year starter at setter is the engine that makes this team go forward. Junior Michelle Tremper and Lianna Sprankle, sophomore Sarah Bishop have been key outside hitters and junior Jody Walraven (5-11) has grown substantially since last year and has become the team’s top middle hitter.
“We are really starting to come together,” said Tremper.
The Bruins, if they can make a run, will avoid top-seeded Freedom Farm until the finals. Freedom Farm has won 10 state titles dating back to 1981, when the MACS first started holding state tournaments for teams.
“I think the girls would love to play them again, but we have a ways to go in order to play them,” said Tremper. “We can’t look too far ahead.”
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Category: High School, Troy Bethany Christian
