Today in the MHSAA: 11/3/15

November 3, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Monday saw the first games of this season’s MHSAA Volleyball Tournament – and with those, a number of key matches including a few that came down to the final set.

Volleyball

Class A No. 4 Lake Orion swept honorable mention Clarkston, guaranteeing an end to the Wolves’ string of eight straight District championships – Oakland Press

Portage Central won a matchup of Class A honorable mentions, sweeping Niles 3-0 in their opener – Kalamazoo Gazette

Class B top-ranked Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard started what it hopes will be a title run with a sweep of No. 10 Chelsea – AnnArbor.com

Class B honorable mentions Coopersville and Fruitport also met in an opener, with Coopersville coming away with a sweep – Grand Rapids Press

Also in Class B, Essexville Garber won a battle of Tri-Valley Conference teams, claiming the fifth game 15-12 to win the match 3-2 – Saginaw News

Concord lost the first two sets to Hanover-Horton in their Class C opener, but came back to win 3-2 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Good Read

We’ve heard a few stories like this in the past, but they never get old. Algonac’s Morgan Beadlescomb is one of the top cross country runners in Michigan and won the Lower Peninsula Division 2 title last season – and last week, pulled St. Clair’s Jack Keais to the latter's first sub-16 minute finish – Port Huron Times-Herald

Today in the MHSAA: 9/16/2015

September 16, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

MHSAA Finals favorites in cross country and boys tennis got an early look at each other Tuesday, while a Corunna volleyball standout set a school record – literally.

Cross Country

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart has become arguably the team to beat in Lower Peninsula Division 4 girls cross country, evidenced again by its win at the Beal City Invitational ahead of the reigning MHSAA champion Aggies – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Boys Soccer

Division 2 No. 14 Fruitport scored with six minutes to play to push past Division 3 No. 12 Ludington 4-3 – Muskegon Chronicle

Northville, ranked No. 4 in Division 1, improved to 8-0 with a 4-1 win over Livonia Stevenson – Detroit News

Boys Tennis

The top-ranked teams in LP Division 4 met Tuesday, with No. 1 Ann Arbor Greenhills prevailing in close matches to claim a 6-2 win over No. 2 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett – Mlive-Detroit

We’ve heard of lots of traveling trophies in football, but this might be a first for tennis; Clio tied Swartz Creek 4-4, and with a 5-3 win as well this season, retained “The Rock” – Flint Journal

From Saturday, we’ve got a more detailed account of how the strong competition played out at the Grosse Pointe North Invitational – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Tennis

Iron Mountain, last season’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 runner-up, moved to 14-0 this season in a close match against reigning Division 1 runner-up Kingsford – Iron Mountain Daily News

Volleyball

Reigning Class A champion Romeo rode a strong finishing run by Miss Volleyball favorite Gia Milana to down always-powerful Marysville – Macomb Daily

Corunna’s Skylar Napier broke her school’s career assists record with 2,328 during a pair of wins over Lake Fenton and Montrose – Flint Journal

Midland Bullock Creek may be unranked, but at least locally has been nearly unstoppable, moving to 19-2-1 with a pair of wins Monday – Midland Daily News

Good Read

And a good cause – Okemos and Mason’s boys soccer teams introduced this season’s "Compete for a Cause" game, which will be played Sept. 26 under the lights at Okemos High School. The teams combined last season to raise $11,000 for childhood cancer research – Lansing State Journal