GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Oakland Christian slips past Southfield Christian, advances to regional finals
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
AUBURN HILLS — It was far from a thing of beauty, but Auburn Hills Oakland Christian is moving on in the Division 4 state tournament.
The Lancers advanced to the regional finals for the first time since 2017 and for the 14th time in 23 years with a 3-0 victory Tuesday over Southfield Christian on their own court.
Playing its first game in a week, Oakland Christian swept the Eagles in 58 minutes with a 25-16, 25-10, 25-19 triumph, overcoming some shakiness at times in each set to prevail.
The MIAC Blue Division champion Lancers (18-3) will host MIAC Red Division champion Allen Park Inter-City Baptist at 6:30 p.m. Thursday for the regional title. Oakland Christian is chasing its 11th regional crown in school history — all since 1998.
“It’s hard because we’ve played them now four times and twice in league play, and all in the past few weeks,” offered Oakland Christian coach Brian Theut. “They know all about us, so we’re working on some things and trying some different things out there. We don’t want other (teams) to know exactly what we’re going to do.”
Oakland Christian’s experiments seamed to work at times against the pesky Eagles. The Lancers built a 10-1 lead in Game 1 and never allowed Southfield Christian (15-9) a chance to get any closer than three points later in the set.
In Game 2 Southfield Christian took a quick 3-2 advantage only to see Oakland Christian responded with a 10-1 run for a 12-4 lead. The advantage expanded to as many as 13 points, 21-8, before the Lancers pulled away for good.
Southfield Christian took a 7-3 lead in the third set and was looking to break the Lancers’ rhythm. The young Eagles could not halt Oakland Christian’s Game 3 comeback and saw their season come to an abrupt end.
Theut believes his team is starting to hit its groove.
“We’re gelling at the right time and trying to take advantage of the opportunities that we have,” smiled Theut. “It’s been really good. We’re starting to figure it out. We’re peaking at the right time. We’re staying healthy, which is huge for us.
“Looking back at the team in ’16 (when we lost in the state finals), I think we’re very, very similar to where we were then,” added Theut. “We have a lot of upperclassmen.”
Oakland Christian has a roster of mostly seniors and juniors this year and has set a goal of not only winning a regional title this week, but advancing to the Final Four for a fourth time.
“Just like from seventh grade to eighth grade we watched (the varsity) play. We wanted to be like them,” said senior setter Katie Hopkins, one of three fourth-year varsity veterans on the roster. “We want to form our own path. (In 2017 and 2018) we were just a freshman and sophomore team that dreamed (of getting) to states. From then on we set a goal to get there and now we’re only a couple of wins from getting there.”
Olivia Colletti recorded seven aces to lead Oakland Christian. Katie Hopkins had 30 assists and three aces, Kaylee Page contributed seven kills and two blocks, Anna Frazee added six kills and two blocks, Presley Rowland registered five kills and two blocks, and Micah Tison chipped in seven kills and three aces for the Lancers.
Southfield Christian is coming off three consecutive seasons of advancing to at least the state quarterfinals. The Eagles lost to Fowler (3-0) in the 2017 state quarterfinals, then lost to Mendon (3-0) in the 2018 semifinals and again to Mendon (3-2) in the semis in 2019.
Most of those players have graduated.
The Eagles lost seven players and all six starters from last year’s Final Four squad. Junior Julianna Helisek was the only player with significant minutes on last year’s squad to return this year.
Helisek led Southfield Christian with 16 kills on 40 attempts and also had two aces against Oakland Christian.
First-year Southfield Christian coach Alisha Love was still impressed with her rebuilding team’s resolve and winning a district this season despite the mass graduation exits.
“You can take six girls with heart, passion, and a little skill and turn it into something,” offered Love. “We came in as underdogs obviously, and we did lose quite a few girls that were the bread-and-butter so to speak. But I have a lot of confidence in those girls. Those girls worked hard over the summer, outside all summer long like everybody else did. But there was only eight of them, so you can imagine it was a little difficult.”
OAKLAND CHRISTIAN WILL BE GOING AFTER ITS 11TH REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. BELOW ARE THE PREVIOUS YEARS THE LANCERS HAVE CAPTURED A REGIONAL AND ADVANCED TO AT LEAST THE STATE QUARTERFINALS:
1998 (Final 4)
2002 (Final 4)
2004 (Lost in State Quarterfinals)
2005 (Lost in State Quarterfinals)
2006 (Lost in State Quarterfinals)
2007 (Lost in State Quarterfinals)
2009 (Lost in State Quarterfinals)
2012 (Lost in State Quarterfinals)
2013 (Final 4)
2016 (State Runner-Up)
2020 — Regional Finalists (currently still in tournament)
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