Cadillac Hopes to Add #1 to Incredible Run
November 17, 2015
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
CADILLAC – The numbers tell the story – 10 consecutive District titles, nine of 10 Regional crowns, three MHSAA Semifinal appearances.
It's been quite a run for coach Michelle Brines and her Cadillac Vikings volleyball program.
Cadillac is in the Elite Eight once again, this time with one of its most well-rounded teams in Brines' 16 years as head coach.
Optimism is high as the Vikings begin this week with their ultimate tournament goal still in play – to reach Saturday’s MHSAA Class B Final, which would be a program first.
The Vikings know it will not be easy. Cadillac faces defending champion North Branch in a Quarterfinal rematch tonight. The Broncos ousted Cadillac 3-0 a year ago.
The Vikings enter the match ranked No. 5 in the latest coaches poll, North Branch No. 8. The Broncos upset No. 2 Mount Morris in the District.
“They’re a good team, but they graduated seven seniors last year,” Brines said of North Branch. “I told the girls, ‘Forget about what it says on their jerseys. This is not the same team that beat us in three last year.’ Yes, they’re good, they have a history, but I like our chances. We just have to go out and perform, play the way we’re capable of playing.”
Brines, who has close to 650 career wins, has an experienced squad with senior outside hitter Morgan Briggs, junior setter Ali Finch, junior middle hitter Kylie Christensen and sophomore outside hitter Gabby Kapuscinski among the key returnees from last year.
Brines is hoping that experience will pay dividends in helping her players deal with the pressure.
Briggs thinks it will.
“We hold ourselves to a high standard so pressure is a good thing, in my point of view,” she said.
Briggs, who will play at Lake Erie College next season, leads the team in kills and also plays the middle on serve-receive. It’s her passing in that role that often starts the offense.
Finch, meanwhile, is the main distributor, although she can put it down, too.
“She jumps sets,” Brines said. “She’s 6-foot and really attacks the ball. The defenders are never sure if she's going up to hit or set – and where she’s setting to.”
Christensen is second to Briggs in kills.
Seniors Gabby Hoaglund (middle hitter), Hanna Liptak (libero), Nicole Kleinsorge (defensive specialist) and Megan Alworden (defensive specialist) and junior Liz Pyles (right side hitter) round out the rotation.
The Vikings, who are 45-4, shared the Big North Conference title with Traverse City West, which competes in the Class A Quarterfinals tonight. The two teams split matches during the season. Cadillac’s only other losses are to Grand Rapids Christian, another Class A quarterfinalist, Temperance-Bedford and Mount Morris.
“We played more tournaments downstate, played some harder teams, and I think we made a name (statewide) for ourselves,” Briggs said.
Cadillac already had that name recognition in the north. It's been fostered by years of success with the tradition carried on by this year's team.
In its last three matches, Cadillac beat Kingsley in the District Final and swept Big Rapids and Houghton in the Regional.
"They play really good defense,” Kingsley coach Dave Hall said. “And they don't make mistakes, they don’t beat themselves. They put a ton of pressure on you by just keeping the ball in play. They keep coming at you and don't give you points.
“I don't think anyone scored more than 13 on them in the Regional,” he added. “I felt pretty good we got to 22 and 15 in two of the games.”
Brines credits several factors for Cadillac’s continued success – introducing girls to volleyball as early as second grade, continuity in the coaching staff, and dedicated players who put the work in during the offseason.
“I’m fortunate that my players are willing to put extra time in during the summer because they play other sports, too,” she said. “I try to be realistic because I don't want to dominate their time. We have a lot of two- and three-sport athletes.”
Playing multiple sports keeps some of the girls out of club volleyball during the offseason, but Brines is fine with it.
“Our school needs our kids (to play multiple sports),” she said. “I’m a firm believer in that. I feel that every sport they play makes them better on my team, and playing on my team makes them better in other sports.”
Repeated success in volleyball helps generate enthusiasm for the program throughout the school – even at the elementary level, where high school players coach and mentor girls in a winter program for grades 2-6.
“We used to start (girls) in fourth grade,” Brines said. “But they play basketball that young (second and third grade) so why not volleyball? We like to get them introduced to it because it's not (a sport) that most kids play outside at home like basketball.”
Briggs is one of those players who became hooked on the sport early. Then again, there were family ties. Her older sister, Taylor, played. Taylor went on to become a floor captain and all-state player, graduating in 2012. Now Morgan is following in her footsteps.
There’s one thing Morgan Briggs is hoping to change, though. Taylor’s last game was a Quarterfinal loss to eventual Class B champion Fruitport in 2011. Morgan would like to extend her senior season a little longer than that.
“We always focus on one game at a time – we don't look (past) anybody – but our goal is to be in the Final Four and make it to Saturday,” she said.
If it doesn’t happen, however, Briggs said she feels fortunate to be part of this team.
“No matter if we win or lose, I have the best girls I could ask for (as teammates),” she said. “They have the same mentality to win as I do. I'm really lucky that I can go through this playing next to my best friends.”
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kylie Christensen (10) and Morgan Briggs put up a block during a match this season. (Middle) Ali Finch (5) sets as Christensen prepares to hit. (Photos by Susan Baker.)
Kestrels Prove to be Champions Again
November 17, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Taylor Vuich and her teammates have learned to ride the wave of a good omen.
And so, when her hotel room was the first among Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s to wake up Saturday morning, and their favorite song was playing when they flipped on the radio, the Kestrels just knew “today was the day.”
Saturday was the day St. Mary got back the MHSAA Class C championship after coming within three points of a second-straight title one year ago.
The Kestrels claimed their second championship in three seasons and fourth overall with a 25-14, 24-26, 25-10 and 25-9 win over first-time finalist Traverse City St. Francis at Kellogg Arena.
“We got all the way here last year, (played) two and half hours, and then it just slipped away from us,” Vuich said. “They were a great team, but I think we knew this year that this is what we wanted. We wanted to prove to everyone that we’re state champions.”
It’s fair to call the 2011 Class C Final epic. All five games were decided by three or fewer points, with Morley-Stanwood claiming the last 15-12.
With now five championship game appearances over the last 11 seasons, it’s also fair to say the Kestrels (49-6) set high expectations heading into every fall – even if that might’ve turned a little dangerous earlier this week.
“When we talk about goals at the beginning of the year, they talk about getting back here,” St. Mary coach Diane Tuller said of her players. “I talk about the first game of the season, (that) this is where we want to be midway and this is where we want to be toward the end; this is what we need to keep working on. That’s the important thing to me. They set those goals, and I have to keep bringing them back.
“I think we overlooked the team we played in the Quarterfinals (Auburn Hills Oakland Christian). It was our worst game of the year. Everything shut down. … (But) our senior captains really wanted it, and they kept them focused. I gave them the job of keeping this team together.”
And they got back together quickly after the Gladiators took a close second set.
St. Mary scored the first 10 points of the third game and then jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the fourth.
And when junior McKenzie Todd and sophomore Cassandra Haut combined to simultaneously crush the winning point straight into the floor, it was a strong lasting impression of how those last two games had gone.
Haut, an all-state honorable mention as a freshman, finished with a team-high 16 kills from her powerful right arm. Vuich, swinging a hammer with her left, added 13 kills and eight digs, and Todd had 10 kills.
Senior Claire McMillan had 46 assists, tied for ninth-most in a Final since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. Junior Kelsey Geiman – beating the previous record by five (and the record from before rally scoring by seven).
"We are really deep, in all our players. We have a lot of good hitters on our team,” Haut said. “We can always count on anyone on our team.”
St. Francis finished 42-8-3, impressive all the more because co-coaches Heather Simpson and Rita Jones didn't take over until a month before practice began.
They moved up from coaching the junior varsity after the former varsity coach resigned to take another full-time job.
“Our kids don’t quit, and I don’t think how we played today is really a reflection of how good we were, or are,” Simpson said. “From that aspect, it’s disappointing. But hats off to them. They’re a good team, and we are too, but we couldn't match them.”
St. Francis senior Bridget Bussell just missed getting into the Finals records as well, with her 18 kills just two short of that list. She also had six digs, and senior setter Katilyn Hegawald had seven and 26 assists.
“We just never got into our groove, except for the game we won,” Bussell said.
(But) we knew we were here for a reason, so we tried as hard as we could to keep pushing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Monroe St. Mary sophomore Cassandra Haut (13) covers a kill attempt by Traverse City St. Francis during the Class C Final. (Middle) St. Francis senior Kaitlyn Hegawald (9) prepares to set up teammate Olivia Hardy (4).