GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Lutheran Northwest falls in state quarterfinals to Valley Lutheran
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
BURTON — Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest’s journey has ended in the state quarterfinals. And it was Lutheran school rival earning its first Final Four bid in the process.
Saginaw Valley Lutheran advanced to the Division 3 Final Four for the first time by sweeping unranked Lutheran Northwest 3-0 Tuesday in the state quarterfinals at Burton Bendle High School.
The Chargers prevailed with a 25-22, 25-19, 26-24 edge, including a third-set comeback.
Valley Lutheran (40-8-3) will face top-ranked Schoolcraft Friday at 12 noon at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena in its state semifinals match.
“I think we’ve won eight districts since I’ve been here and even a couple of regionals. But this is the first time that we’ve advanced to the Final Four,” beamed Valley Lutheran coach Jon Frank. “We were so close (in 2011) and have had some a lot of good teams recently. But we could never quite get over the hump until now.”
Junior Peyton Bartnikoski had 18 kills, four blocks and three service points for Valley Lutheran. Sophomore Ashlyn Martin added nine kills, senior Carly Pomaville dded eight kills and three blocks, and senior Allyson Ehlert slammed six kills for the Chargers.
Lutheran Northwest advanced to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 1994 — the Crusaders’ sole Class D state runner-up campaign — and bowed out with a 23-16-1 ledger.
“I don’t want to say unbelievable because we’re here — believe it — the group of kids we have, they have been so able to think about this moment all year,” said 11th-year Lutheran Northwest coach Heather Lower, a Northwest grad and former Michigan State player. “Since August, since tryouts, our returning players have had the mindset of this is where we need to be, this is where we need to get to. So the whole season has been a journey and, in the back of their minds, the whole season to get here.
“It’s the first time in 25 years since we’ve been here,” added Lower. “We only won our second district title since I have been coach and that was last year. We lost in the regional finals last year. Maybe its taken longer than I would hope, but hopefully in the future Lutheran Northwest will be a program the people want to play. We’ve come a long ways as a program, especially the past few years. I think some of the credit goes to the senior class two seasons ago that really helped us change the culture. They didn’t win a district or regional, but they did help us change the culture. It’s been a long time since we’ve been at this level.”
Northwest held several leads in Game 1, the last coming at 22-21. Valley Lutheran closed with a 4-0 run to take a one-set lead, including a pair of late service points by senior Kelsey Vittitow.
The Chargers built a swift 7-2 advantage in the second set, and extended it to 19-11 before Northwest clawed back in to within 22-16 and 24-19. Valley sealed the deal when the Crusaders served the ball into the net for the 25th point.
In Game 3, Lutheran Northwest was rejuvinated with leads of 6-2, 10-5 and eventually 22-17. Valley Lutheran erased any hopes of a comeback with a 9-2 run to close out the set and match. A pair of service points from junior Kya Belill ended the match and kept the Chargers alive for another game.
“We’re excited for this chance,” added Frank. “We knew this would be a battle. We’ve let teams come back and we withstood their comeback. We knew they would be coming for us in that third set and they did. We found a way to come back and win.”
Junior Sabrina Gottschalk had 12 kills and two aces for Lutheran Northwest, which had multiple unforced serving and hitting errors in the first and third sets that ultimately led to its doom. Junior Jena Maniaci added eight kills for the Crusaders.
“Hats off to Valley Lutheran. I hope they can keep it going,” said Lower. “This is a rarity that two (Lutheran High School Association) schools got a chance to get this far and play each other. There’s only like five of us in the entire state, so it was cool to see two of us in (the state quarterfinals).”
Category: BWW Athlete of the Week, Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), Most Recently Updated Stories, Prep Wraps, Rochester Hills Lutheran NW, Sport, Top Stories, Uncategorized, Volleyball
