Highlight Reel: Ann Arbor Huron/DeWitt

November 12, 2014

The Ann Arbor Huron volleyball team defeated DeWitt 3-0 in a Class A Regional Semifinal on Tuesday. Click the headings below to watch highlights and the final link for the match in full. 

Slater Wins Long Rally - DeWitt jumped out to an early lead against Ann Arbor Huron. A long rally ends with Madison Slater delivering a big hit for the Panthers. Huron won this set, 25-14. 

Vyletel Leads River Rat Run - Ann Arbor Huron scored 14 straight points in the first set against DeWitt. Here's the second of two kills for the River Rats by Kara Vyletel during that run. Huron won the set, 25-14.

DeWitt Hangs Tough - The second set was nip and tuck. DeWitt's Lexi Nordmann comes up with a point here to tie things up. Ann Arbor Huron won this set, 25-23.

Kim Kills It For The Set - Ann Arbor Huron finishes the second set with Kim Spreyer delivering a nice kill. The River Rats took the set, 25-23

Richardson Helps Huron Rally - The third set saw Huron rally to win the match, with Payton Richardson coming through with the match point. The River Rats claimed the Class A Regional Semifinal match, 25-14, 25-23, 25-21. 

Watch the match in full and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Five Fewer Volleyball Days?

December 12, 2017

When 90 percent of one of our key constituent groups has the same opinion, it’s worth talking about – even if the topic is a sacred cow.

This fall, 89.6 percent of 580 survey respondents told the Michigan High School Athletic Association they favor a week earlier end to the girls volleyball season.

Even more – 91.7 percent – favor starting practice two days earlier in August, the same day practice starts for football.

More than 98 percent of those respondents were local athletic directors, and each class (A, B, C and D) was almost equally represented.

If girls volleyball ended a week earlier, it would always conclude before the start of firearm deer hunting season and have a weekend largely to itself, in contrast to the current calendar that sees the Girls Volleyball Finals competing with the Girls Swimming & Diving Finals, the 8-Player Football Finals and 16 Semifinal games in the 11-Player Football Tournament. It’s a weekend of 100 audio and video broadcast hours, among the MHSAA’s very busiest weekends of the entire school year.

The MHSAA’s Girls Volleyball Tournament is the latest finishing high school association Girls Volleyball Tournament in the country, sharing that distinction with nine other states. Compared to our neighbors, the tournament in Michigan ends a week later than the Girls Volleyball Tournament ends in Illinois and Ohio, and two weeks later than the same tournament ends in Indiana and Wisconsin. Michigan’s girls volleyball season is currently one day shorter than in Ohio but four days longer than in Indiana, eight days longer than in Illinois, and 12 days longer than in Wisconsin.

Whether or not girls or boys basketball seasons eventually move up or back or flip-flop, the start and end of girls volleyball season are ripe for review, according to a large portion of local-level administrators. The opposite position is taken by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association, which has countered the online survey with a position paper that points out how much the girls volleyball season was shortened after girls volleyball moved from the winter season to the fall.

The Representative Council’s recent decision to switch the starting dates for girls and boys basketball seasons in the 2018-19 school year diminishes the urgency to decide between these different points of view.