GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT ROUNDUP: Troy struggles at East-West tourney
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
WARREN — Troy volleyball coach Vince Muscat had five goals for his team.
Be the first to 10. Make the opponent the first to call a time-out. Be the first to 20. Make the opponent the first to call a second time-out.
Play well in the last five points.
The Colts reached the first four of those goals but couldn’t finish off games in the final points and started 0-4 in the East-West Volleyball Invitational Wednesday at Blue Water Sports Center.
“We’re doing a great job of [preparation for the next point] during the match, and then we hit that big 2-0,” Muscat said. “We’re not preparing ourselves each point. We’re not keeping composure. We’re starting to freak out a little bit.”
The Colts were within five in seven of their first 10 games of the tournament, but only won two.
Still, in a tournament that featured three of last year’s Final Four teams and five reigning quarterfinalists, Muscat “wasn’t unhappy” with the way his team played. He was pleased that his team got some experience in close games and that Troy hung with its opponents for most of the day.
FARMINGTON HILLS MERCY 25-25, TROY 22-14: For a long time, Troy held its own against the defending regional finalists.
The Colts came out firing with their balanced front-line attack of seniors Nicole Hahn, Hope Keating and Marcela Sanabria, junior Olivia Parks and senior setter Lindsay Moeller.
“We’re running our middles really well at times,” Muscat said. “I’d like to be a little more consistent with that, but when we run our middles, it opens up the pin-to-pin attacking — right sides, outsides.”
But Mercy played solid defense, limited its errors and waited to capitalize on Troy’s errors.
The first game was the tightest of the day, once tied at 21. Mercy continued to keep the ball alive for the next few points, as it used a Troy error to take a pivotal 23-21 lead. The Colts took advantage of a Mercy hitting error, but then a lift penalty brought it to game point. The next Mercy attack went off the Troy block and down to the floor.
The Colts again showed their mettle early in the second game, rebounding from a tough loss in their first game of the season to hang close at 10-8.
That’s when Mercy started to capitalize on the Troy errors, using a couple of long runs to put away the Colts.
Finally, two quick kills put the game away at 25-14.
LIVONIA CHURCHILL 22-25-15, TROY 22-13-13: The schedule gave Troy no relief as the Colts had to play again almost immediately after a two-game loss.
Still, the Colts were aggressive early, using a streak of kills by Keating, Parks and Sanabria to go up 12-7. After two blocks and Parks’ ace, they led 15-8.
But Churchill fought back from there, keeping the ball alive in a 7-0 run that tied the game at 15.
Parks and Keating’s back-to-back kills helped Troy bounce back as a key 4-0 run gave the Colts the first game, 25-22.
In the second game, Churchill started to take advantage of Troy, going on runs of five, five and seven to turn the game into a rout, 25-13. Churchill wrapped it up with a 12-1 run.
After almost two consecutive hours of play, the Colts couldn’t finish off the third game with a 13-12 lead. Churchill took a Troy hitting error and followed it with an ace and a block for the win.
Defensive inconsistency was what plagued the Colts.
“Our passing is great at times, but then it’s awful,” Muscat said. “You don’t have to be great, just don’t be bad. Just be good.”
MUSKEGON MONA SHORES 25-23-15, TROY 17-25-13: Again the Colts went to a third set, and again they lost 15-13.
This time, the Sailors were the team to surge at the last moment as a kill and an ace gave them a 14-11 lead. Parks’ kill and Moeller’s ace brought Troy to within one, but Mona Shores finished the job with a kill.
Troy led 9-7 early in the first game. After a missed serve, the Colts misjudged two balls and then gave up two aces to hand Mona Shores a 13-9 lead.
Troy pulled within 20-17 late in the game, but the Sailors buckled down with three kills and two blocks in the final six points.
The Colts seemed to be in control in the second game up 12-7, but then came another run. The defense did the work for Mona Shores with two blocks, and two Troy errors helped the Sailors take a 14-12 lead.
Mona Shores still held that lead at 23-20, but Troy launched its first late comeback of the day. It took advantage of two hitting errors and a passing error and finished off the game with two aces to win 25-23.
The Colts carried that momentum into the second game with a 7-2 lead, distributing the ball to Hahn, Parks and Keating. But Mona Shores followed with the next five points and eked out a tough third set.
CLARKSTON 25-25, TROY 20-23: Troy got as close as it has gotten to Clarkston in four years.
With the Colts coming off a draining three-game loss, Clarkston seemed poised to put away the game early with a 10-4 lead. But Troy hung in, eventually getting three straight aces from senior Lexie Pullen to cut the deficit to 12-11.
Two Clarkston errors helped the Colts tie the game at 17, but it was Clarkston with the clutch plays down the stretch, taking eight of the last 11 points.
Finally, the Colts had Wolves right where they wanted them with a 17-10 lead. The Wolves clawed back to trail just 22-21, however, and then grabbed the next four points on a service error, two kills and a hitting error.
True to Muscat’s fear, Troy was on a roll until it reached about 20 points. The coach said the game was a situation the Colts would have to learn from.
“These kids have had experience, but they haven’t had experience like they’re going to have this year,” Muscat said. “Do they have a lot of experience? Yes. But their experience is limited on the big-game side.”
(Jake Lourim is a junior at Troy High School and a member of the S.H.P. Media Group / www.northoaklandsports.com Student Correspondence Program. He is publisher of website www.troycoltsportsupdate.com and a member of the Troy school newspaper editorial staff. He can be reached by e-mail at j.lourim@comcast.net)
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