Hurons advance to regionals
by Angie Asam–Staff Writer– The Rogers City Hurons varsity volleyball team swept the Gaylord St. Mary Snowbirds 25-21, 25-12 and 25-19 to capture the district title in Onaway. The title is the second straight for the Hurons who will move on to play the winner of the Hillman district (Mio v. Posen, Saturday 10 a.m.) Tuesday in Pellston at 7 p.m.
Game one had the Hurons behind and close with the Snowbirds much of the early going. With the score 12-15 the Snowbirds service error gave Linnea Brege the serve and she started with an ace, followed by an Amanda Smolinski kill and Lindsey Claus block to bring the score to 16-15, forcing the Snowbirds to call timeout.
Rogers City never looked back as they continued to add points and took the game 25-21. The Hurons scored the final point on a great dig out of the net by Smolinski and caught the Snowbirds celebrating before the whistle to give Rogers City the game. Game two was all Rogers City who took an early 11-6 lead and never looked back, to take the game in convincing fashion.
Game three would prove to be exciting as St. Mary was not giving up keeping the game close and the Hurons found themselves trailing 11-14. Rogers City trailed 14-16 when a B
Smolinski had 11 kills on the night while Peacock had 10. Smolinski also added nine set assists, six aces and four digs while Peacock had five aces and two digs. Claus had a big night at the net as she recorded 10 blocks. Brege had 16 set assists, three aces and nine digs while Schleben added four set assists, four aces and two digs. Emily Marx added an ace and nine digs while Taylor Darling added three digs.
?I am just excited. I kind of expected us to start a little slow because we tend to play down to our competition. We talked about that and we didn?t want to do that but we did. They have a hard time slowing down their game. The second game I was getting more frustrated but they brought it back around and took it in three. I couldn?t be prouder,? said coach Kristy Smolinski on the win.