Reese Earns 1st Championship Dance with Unforgettable Comeback
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 20, 2021
BATTLE CREEK – As Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” rang through the Kellogg Arena speakers Saturday, the Reese volleyball team put on a show.
The Rockets huddled up, sang and danced near their bench following the second set of their Division 3 Final against Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central. In isolation, it looked like the beginning of a celebration. With context, it was a team looking to regain its identity while in a 0-2 hole.
“You have to fake it until you make it, man,” Reese senior setter Aydan Dalak said. “You have to fake it until you make it, and make it look like you’re good.”
Three sets later, the Rockets replaced dancing with the happiest player pile in Reese volleyball history, as they came back to defeat SMCC 18-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21, 16-14 and claim the school’s first volleyball Finals title.
“It was just exciting. It was, I think, everything that people want to see when they come to a state championship game,” Reese coach Angie Compton said. “We definitely were not ourselves at the beginning, and we loosened up that third set and we just never looked back. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t without our, ‘Oh no, are we going to do this?’ moments. But they’re just a great group of girls that just got the job done.”
The win denied SMCC a third straight Division 3 title, and ended with a back-and-forth final set, which began with each team going on a 5-0 run. The Kestrels took a 9-7 lead during the set, but, outside of the final tally, neither team led by more than one after that.
Reese (35-5-1) clinched the title on the second championship point of the night, as senior Maddi Osantowski and junior Abby Karst combined for a block.
“Honestly, I don’t even remember it,” Osantowski said. “I just saw her go up and I was like, ‘Whatever, let’s just try and block this girl and get the game over with.’ I was kind of in shock. That was my first block against her the whole game. It was great.”
As the tension of the final set increased, Reese continued to stay loose, lining up as sprinters on the one side of the court as a timeout would come to an end, and faux sprinting across to the other side when the horn would blow. That joined a stirring rendition of “Living on a Prayer” and a team shadow boxing exercise during “Eye of the Tiger” in getting the Rockets into the proper headspace to come out victorious.
“I was like, ‘Everybody is probably judging us like crazy. Do they not care?’” Compton said with a laugh. “We expected to win. We came in thinking we could do this. We don’t think everybody else thought that, but we don’t care. We definitely care, especially in those moments, we care the most when we’re loosening ourselves up. When we’re dancing and getting loose, we know that’s how we play better. I know it looks weird, but it’s very important to our style of play.”
Also very important to their style of play is Osantowski, who finished with 34 kills and totaled 110 attack attempts during the match.
“I know that she will put it down when we need it to be put down,” said Dalak, who had 42 assists on the night. “It’s good to mix it up sometimes, too, because we need to get those blockers moving around.”
Dalak did switch it up in a crucial moment, ending a wild rally with a dump for the final point of the fourth set. Dalak also had 13 digs and six kills in the match, while Sarah Gray added 21 digs and six kills. Josie Johnson led the Reese defense with 29 digs, while Osantowski added 17.
While Reese was getting loose and gaining momentum, SMCC (36-12) was attempting to regain what it had in the opening two sets.
“A big part of it is, I tell them, ‘Take a deep breath, let’s focus on the things that we know,’” Kestrels co-coach Cassandra Haut said. “What do we know about the other side? Is the setter up, is the setter down? What do they normally hit in this situation? And we talk about the rotation we’re in. What’s our best hit? Any way to just kind of refocus on something else, not the nerves or anything else that you’re feeling.”
Senior Kate Collingsworth spread the wealth with her 52 assists for SMCC. Jessica Costlow had 22 kills, McKenna Payne had 21 and Audrey Cousino had 10. Payne also had 29 digs and four aces, while Costlow had 19 digs.
“I am super, super proud of my team and everything they’ve accomplished this year,” Haut said. “They persevered through a lot of different things, and we play a really tough schedule. And I think it shows with how hard we can push.”
PHOTOS (Top) Reese’s Aydan Dalak (4) revs up her team during Saturday’s Division 3 championship win. (Middle) St. Mary’s Kate Collingsworth (3) and Lauren Conant (5) put up a block as Reese’s Calli Blossom aims to send a ball through. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Flights, Flexibility, Fun & New Friends All Parts of Beaver Island's Sports Story
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
August 27, 2021
Chartered flights and overnight stays for all away games are part of the normal routine for one northern Michigan high school’s student-athletes.
Opportunities to make lots of new friends always come with the games too.
That’s the norm for Beaver Island athletes representing the Lakers in soccer, volleyball and basketball while competing in the Northern Lights League.
“We fly everywhere, and it is awesome,” says second-year soccer coach Bryan Doughman. “I thoroughly enjoy the travel.
“The biggest challenge is the kids forgetting something, and I am ultimately responsible for ‘How am I going to fix this?’”
Beaver Island is the largest island in Lake Michigan, northwest of Charlevoix in the Lower Peninsula and southeast of Manistique in the U.P. The island is home to 600 year-round residents, with 60 students kindergarten through 12th grade, including 17 in grades 9-12 this school year.
Doughman manages a restaurant on the Island. He is a native of Cincinnati. Coaching the co-ed soccer team has permitted him to make his first trips to the Upper Peninsula and Mackinac Island.
But social aspects provide the most benefit for the student-athletes. The Islanders will make their first trip of the season Sept. 15 to Concord Academy Boyne. As they do at home, the Islanders will play a game Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The overnight experience is provided by the home school.
“The kids will be seeing and meeting new friends,” Doughman noted. That’s what they ultimately look forward to … socially with different people.
“We all know the situation of going to work where you interact with the same people over and over again and can’t wait to meet new people,” he continued. “That’s what they kinda go through their whole lives.”
Beaver Island’s girls volleyball team opened its season Aug. 27 with a pair of losses at Maplewood Baptist in Kinross, located in the eastern Upper Peninsula.
The soccer and volleyball teams will open their home seasons Sept. 10 and 11, hosting Hannahville Nah Tah Wahsh, another U.P. opponent.
“The island community enjoys being able to come and cheer on the island teams,” noted second-year volleyball coach Bridget Martin.
The boys and girls basketball teams will go through their seasons this winter similarly. Athletics and social opportunities are a source of satisfaction for Kerry Smith, Beaver Island’s athletic director. She grew up on the Island and competed for the Islanders.
“The best part of being an AD on an island is the great deal of satisfaction I get from watching our kids be able to connect with other kids their age and play a sport and have a great time doing it,” Smith said. “The kids here know what a privilege it is to be able to have a sports program, and they show their appreciation through their outstanding sportsmanship – and that makes me beam with pride!”
Dianna Behl, Beaver Island’s language arts teacher, will take over the girls basketball team this winter. She has served as the school’s Nordic ski club advisor the past four years and has practiced with the basketball team frequently. She was a three-year letter winner at Charlevoix High School.
She’s expects her team to benefit from players taking part in fall sports.
“I am very excited for our season because many of the players are participating in soccer and volleyball, so they should be in great shape for basketball season,” she said. “I hope to build on their solid base.”
Dan Burton will be entering his seventh season as the varsity boys basketball coach. He’s also developing an elementary basketball program and guiding the middle schoolers. He expects to have a middle schooler or two join the high school team to fill out the roster this winter.
“The best part of coaching is getting these the students an outlet for sports,” said Burton, a business owner on the island. “Otherwise, there’s nothing much else to do in a small town like this.
“Keeping a sports program is the most important thing.”
The soccer team also is relying on middle schoolers as it attempts to find enough players to compete. The co-ed roster is dominated by girls, and the Islanders have only two seniors and one junior on the squad.
“I just hope we can improve a lot on our basics this year,” Doughman said. “I hope to just have fun. The biggest challenge is they’re all first and second-year players, except for a handful.”
Weather is the most difficult challenge of being an island-based sports team, the coaches acknowledged.
“The greatest challenge of coaching an island team is Mother Nature,” Behl said. “The girls practice hard for days and then at the last minute bad weather comes in and the planes aren't flying us out, or our competition in, for the games.
“It is heartbreaking and happens every season,” she continued. “Nonetheless, I am so impressed with how well the girls handle it. It is a life lesson in flexibility, and they are pros.”
Because of those frequent weather changes, spotting the athletic director in the school hallways often is a bad sign.
“The weather is a major frustration and always a factor for us,” Smith said. “On game day, I try not to show my face down in the high school wing because the kids always think I am coming to deliver bad news.”
The school often chooses which teams will go on to MHSAA postseason play based on their success in the league. Beaver Island sent its boys basketball team to Districts last season.
The last Beaver Island team to move past the first round of Districts was the volleyball team in 2013. The Islanders beat Mackinaw City and went on to play Engadine before seeing their season come to an end. The school’s best-ever tournament run was by the soccer team in 2005.
“They were District winners; this was the farthest any team has ever gone,” Smith recalled. “It was a huge celebration. The team was greeted by the fire trucks, parents and pretty much the whole community when they flew home that day.”
Beaver Island anticipates sending the boys basketball team to Districts again this year, and possibly the girls basketball team as well.
Mackinac Island is the Islanders’ favorite place to travel, according to coaches’ consensus. That’s the host for the volleyball and soccer Northern Lights Conference tournaments.
“One of our favorites would have to be Mackinac Island because the girls enjoy flying to another island, riding in the horse drawn carriage and the rare treat of getting to go to a Starbucks,” she said.
Mackinac Island will host conference tournaments for soccer Oct. 16 and volleyball Oct. 23.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. 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) Beaver Island's Ella Moon passes during a volleyball match this fall. (2) Olga Burton winds up to serve. (3) Beaver Island plays its lone home soccer game during the 2020 season. (4) The Beaver Island boys basketball team participated in District play this past winter. (Photos courtesy of the Beaver Island athletic department.)