Local Sports Journal

ZEELAND – The Spring Lake Lakers competed hard Saturday at the Zeeland East tournament, finishing the day with a 3-2-1 record and falling in the semifinal.

In pool play, the Lakers defeated Zeeland West 25-15, 25-18, fell to Greenville 21-25, 20-25, defeated Hopkins 25-23, 25-23, and split with Northview 25-27, 25-21.

In the quarterfinals, Spring Lake once again got the better of Hopkins, dispatching the Vikings 25-15, 25-18, and then moved on to face Greenville in the semifinals. Once there, Greenville took the first game 25-18, and won the second 25-15.

“Overall we had a good day making it to the semifinals,” said Spring Lake coach Sarah Bulthuis. “The setters did a good job of spreading out the offense. We served well until the end of the day.

“In the semifinals we lost our intensity, focus and our ball control was not at its best,” Bulthuis continued. “You cannot win matches without those components. Kelsee Zuidema continues to play a well-rounded game. We used two setters today so the hitters had to adjust. Libero Rachel Pennington played great defense, (while) Courtney Kyser played a great front row and had a good day in hitting and blocking.”

The Lakers’ record now sits at 18-4-2.

Spring Lake was led by Zuidema, who finished the day with 47 kills, 40 digs and six blocks, while Kyser totaled 33 kills, 15 blocks, 22 pts and five aces. Lydia Suchecki had 23 kills, 25 points and five aces, with Breanna Williams contributing 36 pts, three aces and six kills, and Pennington finishing with 60 digs, 14 points and two aces.

Maya Denslow had 25 digs, Abby Moe 74 assists, 19 digs, 15 points and two aces, and Karley Engelsman added 37 assists and eight digs for Spring Lake.
Mason County Central

ONEKAMA – The Spartans of Mason County Central had a decent day Saturday at the Onekama Tournament, falling to Western Michigan Christian, splitting with Lake City and splitting with Suttons Bay in pool play, and defeated Hart in the semifinals.

The Spartans fell again to Western Michigan Christian in the semifinals.

MCC opened the day falling 23-25, 18-25 to WMC, and then defeating Lake City 25-23 in their opening match; the Spartans fell 20-25 in Game 2 versus the Trojans. In the final match of pool play, the Spartans lost Game 1 to Suttons Bay 19-25 before roaring back to win Game 2 25-18.

Once in bracket play, the Spartans dispatched West Michigan Conference foe Hart 25-22, 25-12 in the quarterfinals before Christian dominated the Spartans 25-11, 25-11 in the semifinals.

“In our first match of the day with WMC, I thought the girls played very well,” said Spartan Mary Scheffler. “We were very competitive and hit the ball hard.  In the next two matches in pool play, we struggled with consistency and made too many errors.

“In quarter finals we played Hart, and played very well,” Scheffler continued. “Madison Geers was connecting very well on not only her spikes but also with her jump serve. In semis ,(WMC) has one player, Maria Ma who, no matter where she is on the court, hits the ball well and does not hit out very often.”

Spartan standouts on the day were Madison Geers with 28 kills, 39 digs, 11 points and six aces, while Riley Tyndall racked up 30 service points (serving 92% for the day) and six aces on the day.

“Abbie Berringer had an all-around good day,” Scheffler added. Berringer finished with 22 points, seven aces and 22 assists for the Spartans.

 

Whitehall

MORELY – Whitehall traveled east Saturday to participate in the Morley Stanwood volleyball tournament, finishing 4-2 on the day and falling to the host Mohawks in the tourney finals.

Leading Whitehall were Jane Kuipers with 59 kills and nine blocks, Alyssa Myers with 14 kills, 10 aces, 57 assists and 15 digs, and Julie Brown with eight aces, 20 kills and 31 digs.

Jenna Pesch totaled 10 aces, 15 kills and 44 digs as well for the Vikings.

Whitehall’s record now sits at  21-8 overall.