CADILLAC — Cadillac aims to be right in the thick of things in this year’s Big North Conference volleyball race.
That starts with its nonconference play, where the Vikings stacked their schedule with quality opponents, even after losing four starters from last year’s team that tied with Traverse City West for second.
The early season tests kicked off Friday morning with Cadillac hosting an 11-team invitational. The Vikings didn’t win it all, but that’s not the whole point. Vikings 25th-year head coach Michelle Brines said she’d rather be chasing Michigan-shaped hardware at the end of the season than winning a plaque to start it.
Shelby, backed by Ohio State commit Navea Gauthier, won the tournament title, besting Saginaw Heritage 25-15, 25-23 in the championship match.
Shelby, which looks improved from last year’s run that ended with a loss to Traverse City St. Francis in regionals at McBain, knocked off the hosts in three games in the quarterfinals.
“She’s the best back row attacker in high school I’ve ever seen,” Brines said of Gauthier. “I’ve been doing this a long time. They put her right on the 10-foot line and she just rips that ball. It’s impressive. Overall, they all play very well together, and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. That was the difference.”
Cadillac, Elk Rapids, Kingsley and McBain all made the Gold Bracket after pool play, with the Vikings and Elks falling in the semifinals and tying for third.
The Vikings defeated an improved Houghton Lake team 25-12, 25-12, 25-6 and Saginaw Heritage 25-23, 18-25, 25-16 in pool play, knocking off McBain 25-13, 25-9 in the quarterfinals and falling 25-23, 21-25, 13-15 to Shelby.
“What I really love about my team, there’s only nine of them,” Brines said. “Everybody’s got a role, everybody’s got a spot. They have to do it. They’re hard workers, and they don’t give up. We were down 12 to nine in that last set, and they could have easily just packed it in, and then we made some plays.”
Cadillac (3-1) hosts a mini tournament next Friday with Leland, Kingsley, Saginaw Swan Valley, Midland and Morley Stanwood entered.
On the day, the Vikings were led by Cassie Jenema (26 kills, 72 assists, 25 digs, 10 aces), Sophie Clough (33 kills, 20 digs, six aces, two blocks), Chloe Lijewski (12 kills, four blocks, six digs, two assists, one ace), Maddy Taylor (17 kills, eight digs, five aces), Lydia Owens (eight kills, seven aces, six digs, two blocks), Kaylee Tweedale (eight kills, six blocks, five aces, four digs), Ari Bryant (45 digs, 11 assists), Alivia Lorenz (18 digs, five assists, four aces) and Grace Zuback (17 digs, two assists).
The Vikings graduated four starters — Carissa Musta, Makenzie Johns, Adri Beydoun and Reina McMahon.
Lydia Owens and Kaylee Tweedale, both 5-7 juniors, start as middle blockers. They were both setters on junior varsity last year.
The Big North figures to be a bit more wide open than previous seasons. Traverse City Central graduated almost its entire defense but returns the league’s top hitter in Elyse Heffner. TC West returns basically its whole team from a young squad that tied Cadillac for second last year.
“The competition we played today was super solid,” Brines said. “Petoskey is going to be pretty good, too. They got a lot of their good players back, so it’ll be competitive this year. Our deal is we’re going to look a lot different than what we looked like in the past. But that’s okay. There’s different facets of the game, and if you can do some of those fast as well, it’ll bring success. It’s just going to look different for us.”
Elk Rapids posted a 3-1 record for the day, going a perfect 3-0 in pool play with wins over McBain (25-20, 25-19), Calumet (25-20, 25-18) and Inland Lakes (25-6, 25-13) before a 25-22, 25-14 loss in the quarters to eventual finalist Saginaw Heritage.
The Elks were led by Caroline Best (26 kills, nine aces, 21 digs), Rhielynn Skrocki (23 kills, six aces), Lexi More (nine kills, eight aces, four blocks), Ashley McCann (36 assists), Haleigh Yokom (26 assists) and Mattea Ball (39 digs). Elk Rapids plays in Leland’s tournament Saturday.
Kingsley didn’t win a match, but managed to get into the Gold Bracket with a pair of splits in pool play. The Stags split with Boyne City (21-25, 25-10) and Clio (23-25, 25-10), lost to Shelby (23-25, 26-28) and fell to Saginaw Heritage 20-25, 20-25 in the quarterfinals, playing both tourney finalists during the day.
The Stags were led by Jenna Middleton (41 kills 23 digs), Aizlyn McKinley (16 kills, 29 digs, seven aces), Sarah wooer (four kills, four blocks, 71 assists, 34 digs), Olivia Reamer (10 kills, two blocks), Isabelle Seitz (34 digs, two aces) and Delaney Case (five kills, five blocks). Kingsley hosts a quad Tuesday that includes McBain.
McBain beat Inland Lakes 25-18, 25-20, split with Calumet 25-18, 21-25, falling to Elk Rapids 20-25, 9-25 in pool play before a 25-13, 25-9 quarterfinal loss to Cadillac.
The Ramblers (1-2-1) were paced by Gwyneth VerBerkmoes (16 kills, two aces, a block, nine digs), Adria Rozeveld (12 kills, two blocks, 11 digs), Madison Ochampaugh (three kills, 37 assists, one block, one ace), Ayla Fredin (21 digs, an ace, five assists), Brooklyn Hall (eight kills, two blocks) and Megan Kile (22-for-22 serving).
“I honestly don’t feel like we ever played up to our level today at all,” McBain coach Shawn Murphy said. “We showed some glimmers at times, but we also showed some lackluster play and lacked the consistency that we need to keep in order to stay with strong teams.”
Murphy said his team did finish pool play on a strong note, but they did not look their best against Cadillac.
“This early in the season, a few minor errors are to be expected, but we are also very senior-heavy and we should be cleaning things up pretty quickly,” he said.
Boyne City played in the Cadillac tournament for the first time in several years.
“The competition down here is a great experience for the girls to get the season started,” Ramblers first-year head coach Annabelle Seelye said. “These girls were ready for the first game of the tournament, which happened to be the Kingsley Stags, who we met at the district finals last season. We had a slow start in the beginning, but the girls put it in gear and came out on top in the first game 25-21. Kingsley took the second 11-25. We look forward to playing them again later this season.”
Boyne fell to Shelby 17-25, 13-25 and split with Clio 25-12, 18-25.
The Ramblers were led by senior outside hitter Elly Wilcox (18 kills, 30 digs), freshman setter Lily Payton (43 assists), senior Josie Wilson (15 kills), Amelia Dunstan (nine kills), Hailey Van Horn (nine kills), Ava Snyder (19 digs), Adonae Patton (30 digs) and senior Katelyn Dittmar (17 digs, 4 kills).
Brooklyn LaBrecque and Jenna Stubbs led Inland Lakes, which was 0-3 in pool play.
“We improved each game and play to train at the level we saw at this tournament,” Bulldogs coach Nicole Moore said.