LocalSportsJournal.com

KENT CITY – Western Michigan Christian volleyball had aspirations of making a deep tournament run after winning its second straight district title last week.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, their playoff hopes were cut short by Pewamo-Westphalia on Tuesday in the Division 3 regional semifinals at Kent City High School. The Pirates took down WMC in four sets, 17-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-20.

WMC came out hot to start the match, led by seniors Hannah Heiss and Abby Leffring and junior Kasey Folkema. Heiss followed through with three kills and a pair of aces while Leffring had four kills and Folkema had four aces.

Game 2 was a different story for WMC as Pewamo built a 22-10 lead and never looked back.

The Warriors’ big senior hitters struggled at the net against Pewamo’s defense, especially the Pirates’ Nikki Fedewa. The junior gave WMC’s Heiss and Leffring fits trying to get the ball past her.

Getting the ball past the Pirates defense was definitely a challenge for WMC, but it also struggled with unforced errors. Getting eight double-hit calls against them was definitely a challenge for the Warriors to overcome.

“That was the tightest double calls I’ve seen the entire season,” said Pewamo-Westphalia coach Jon Thelen, who led his team to the quarterfinals last season. “I don’t know why she was calling them so tight, but she was.

The double-hit violations definitely wore on the Warriors, but Westphalia’s downhill hitting and blocking at the net wore the Warriors out mentally.

“They definitely got into our heads, but that was a big game and a lot was on the line,” said WMC coach Amber Gontjes. “One mistake leads to them getting into our heads, that’s mental toughness and that’s what we struggled with all season long.”

Game 3 the Pirates built a 6-2 lead out of the gate and held WMC off the rest of the game to take it 25-17.

“We were just a little nervous,” said Thelen. “We had to settle our nerves a little bit and we had a goal to shut them down at the net. Once you mentally start seeing it, you see the results.” 

The Warriors looked like they had the rally they needed in the final set, as they built a 16-12 lead. But the Pirates rallied back to eventually take a 19-18 lead that they never relinquished.

WMC finishes the season 21-13-2 while Pewamo improves to 28-12-2 and advances into Thursday’s regional final against Morley-Stanwood, which defeated Calvin Christian in the other semifinal.

Photos by Krisha Wainright