LocalSportsJournal.com

SHELBY — Shelby’s girls volleyball team went 4-0 on the day, utimately successfully defending the Karen Kirk Memorial tournament title Saturday at home.

Kirk founded the Tigers’ volleyball program back in 1976.

In pool play the Tigers won both sets from Holton (25-15 and 25-23) and Muskegon (25-10 and 25-13), then turned back Hart (25-20 and 25-11) in the semifinals and defeated Ludington (25-18 and 25-21) in the championship match.

It was the fourth time Shelby has played Ludington this season, they are 2-2 on the season.

“Like the Whitehall match earlier in the week, this was a good test for us as they are big across the net,” said Tigers head coach Tom Weirich.

“They create match-up issues in every rotation, which puts pressure on our serving to be more on point to keep them out of system.”

As a team,, the Tigers hit .289 and Navea Gauthier dropped seven aces on the Orioles in two sets.

“Hosting a tournament on homecoming can be a huge distraction, but the team played great all week, and finished strong over the weekend,” Weirich said.

Gauthier finished the day with 15 kills, and she also led the Tigers with 50 kills and three blocks.

Biloxi Lee added 11 kills, 30 digs and three blocks. Claire Gowell contributed 12 aces, Audrey Horton had seven assists and Morgan Weirich had 30 digs.

Ludington went 3-1 on the day, registering wins over Pentwater (25-8 and 25-11) and Hart (25-14 and 25-12) in pool play before defeating Holton (25-9 and 25-12) in the semifinals.

Leading the way for the Orioles were Maddy Vaara with 44 kills, 21 digs, four blocks and two aces.

Karli Mesyar finished with 24 digs, 17 assists and 12 aces. Jordyn Anderson added 54 assists, 18 digs, eight blocks, six kills and four aces.

Mia Pung contributed 44 digs, three assists and five aces. Keelyn Laird had 14 kills, 33 digs, one assist and six aces. Ashley McPike added seven blocks, nine kills, four digs and one assist.

Olivia Lynn had four kills and four digs. Mia Voss added three blocks, two kills and one ace. Mya Bryant finished with five digs. Morgan Simpson contributed four digs, one assist and one kill. Delaney Williams had two aces and three kills.

Ludington is scheduled to host inter-county Mason County Central in a non-conference match at Hawley Gymasium on Tuesday night.

Shelby is on the road Tuesday night for a West Michigan Conference match against North Muskegon.