LocalSportsJournal.com
The Whitehall volleyball team won the Western Michigan Conference tournament on Thursday and clinched the outright conference championship in the process.
The Vikings won the conference tournament by beating the Shelby Tigers in the finals 25-12, 25-14 and 25-18.
Whitehall advanced to the finals by defeating Ravenna 25-14, 25-20 and North Muskegon in the quarterfinals 25-17, 25-14.
Shelby advanced to the final match by defeating Montague in the semifinals.
Montague, which finished first in the regular season conference standings, took third in the tournament. That allowed Whitehall to claim the overall title by finishing first in the tournament and second in the regular season.
Julie Brown had 26 kills and 35 digs for Whitehall while Brianna Copley had 20 kills and 15 digs, Hanna Evans chipped in 19 digs. Allisyn Grams added 16 kills and Alyssa Myers had 97 assists and seven aces.
Whitehall coach Ted Edsall said the conference title is special for many reasons to the Vikings.
“It’s great, three weeks ago we lost to Montague and it didn’t look good for us,” he said. “We haven’t lost the conference in five years and that loss really helped us focus.”
Edsall saluted the Viking seniors their success in conference play every year.
“Today was a perfect storm and I thought we played really well with great senior leadership,” Edsall said. “It’s awesome that these seniors have never lost a conference tournament.”
