Stoney Creek enjoying best volleyball season to date

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

ROCHESTER HILLS — Sometimes it takes sports programs time to build into a competitive group. After all, Rome wasn’t built overnight.

For Rochester Stoney Creek’s volleyball team, the Cougars have reached another benchmark this autumn and are slowly rising up the charts to become a respected program.

Stoney Creek has enjoyed its best overall season to date and enter this week’s state tournament with high hopes.

“I think we have done a nice job the past couple of years, but I think this year we have really stepped up (a notch),” said Stoney Creek head coach Kim Perderson, who is in her fifth season at the helm after serving as an assistant for a couple of years.”

This season Stoney Creek captured its first league championship in the 10-year history of the school. The Cougars ran the tables in the OAA Blue Division with an 8-0 record.

Stoney Creek also takes a respectable 21-9-3 overall record into this week’s Class A district at Rochester High.

The Cougars have never won a district title, but have reached the district finals once before, falling to Romeo in the winter 2007 district championship match.

Before this season, Stoney Creek was second in the league in both 2004 and 2005 — the school opened in 2002-2003 — but had bounced all over the league standings and in different divisions

“We’ve had some competitive teams in the past and some good individual players, but we haven’t always done well in the league or in the district,” said Pederson. “

The Cougars are looking for a shot of redemption this week, and will face district host Rochester in the semifinals Thursday night. Last year in a district at Lake Orion, Stoney Creek had senior-laden on the ropes with a 13-11 edge in Game 5 of a district semifinal, but succumbed to the Falcons in the end.

Stoney Creek, which also won the Rochester City Cup for the first time in school history this season, dropped a three-set match to Rochester at that very same tournament.

Junior setter Alex Caporuscio has been the team’s on-court leader, while senior Lisa Kisil is a four-year varsity veteran that has added stability and leadership to a team that still plays four sophomores regularly. Senior Sam Wingerter has been another steady contributor.

“I think we are getting some good athletes that are also volleyball players, where volleyball is their first sport and they are playing on good clubs teams,” said Pederson. “We’ve had some good players and some athletic kids the past few years, but not all of them were true volleyball players. We’re starting to get that type of well-rounded athlete.”

To submit information to www.northoaklandsports.com, e-mail dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com.  To advertise, e-mail advertising@northoaklandsports.com . Follow us on Twitter @LocalSportsFans and more than a dozen other social media networks.

Tags: girls volleyball, High School Girls Volleyball, Prep Girls Volleyball, Rochester Stoney Creek Girls Volleyball, volleyball

Category: Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Rochester Stoney Creek