GIRLS VOLLEYBALL: Shorthanded Oakland Christian reaches Final Four for first time since 2016
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
LAPEER — Throw a two-month delay into the middle of the state tournament and that can easily throw a team off its momentum train.
Add in a wrinkle of missing three starters from its regular rotation and that can be another landmine to sidestep.
For Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, this group has overcome all of its adversity and more and are now headed to the Division 4 Final Four at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.
The state-ranked Lancers put their depth to the meddle and slipped past Ubly, 3-1, Tuesday at Marlette High School in the state quarterfinals. Oakland Christian advanced with a close affair of 26-24, 28-26, 19-25 and 25-21 to earn a date Friday at 2 p.m. against Upper Peninsula power Carney-Nadeau.
In the previous poll back on Nov. 9, Oakland Christian was ranked ninth and Ubly was listed as honorable mention. The Lancers’ net opponent, Carney-Nadeau, is ranked 10th, while the other semifinals matchup pits honorable mention Battle Creek St. Phillip and unranked Mesick at 12 noon.
“The girls found a way to get it done,” said first-year coach Brian Theut. “We were down three players — an outside (hitter), a middle (hitter) and a right-side hitter, so we had to move some people around. We only dressed eight girls. But it was next man up and I am proud of the seniors for stepping up and being leaders and for the girls who hadn’t played as much who stepped up in their opportunity and helped us win this game. I mean its hard enough being off for nearly two months, but to win when you have three players not come back, including one who was a six-rotation player. These girls showed that they were (resilient).”
“Their goal from the beginning was to get here,” added Theut. “This is about the team and the girls who have stuck together to get us to this point. I’m really proud of them.”
The last time Oakland Christian reached the state semifinals was in 2016, when this year’s seniors and juniors were staring on the middle school team. The Lancers have slowly built back up over the past four seasons and are now the highest-ranked team still left in the Division 4 state tournament.
Against Ubly, the Lancers’ new rotation — a total of seven of the 15 players on the tournament roster including the three regular starters opted out of the COVID-19 rapid testing program set forth by the MHSAA and the state’s governor’s office — unified to gut out a tight-knit win over Ubly.
The Bearcats led 24-23 in Game 1 and 24-21 in Game 2, but the Lancers found ways to rally back and steal the sets. Ubly captured the third set before Oakland Christian clinched the win by gutting out a third victory in the fourth game.
“This season has been weird — a hodge-podge kind of season,” said Theut. “The girls, like everyone else, didn’t know if they would actually be allowed to finish their season. But here we are. We found a way to win with only eight players and now we’re on our way to the Final Four.”
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