|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
March 14, 2002Glen Lake earns Final Four berth- Lakers overwhelm Ishpeming, will face New Lothrop on FridayBy MARK URBANRecord-Eagle staff writer JOHANNESBURG - You just have to believe. After three straight trips to the quarterfinals in basketball, Glen Lake is finally going to semifinals: in volleyball. The Lakers, who reached at least the finals for nine straight years ending in 1999, are going back to Kalamazoo after a 15-0, 15-10 win over Ishpeming in the Class C quarterfinals. "If you would have said that at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have thought that," said Glen Lake senior Liz Shimek, the state's Miss Basketball. "When we came in, none of us had every really played together before. We've just grown together." Glen Lake (32-18-2) will take on New Lothrop (54-5-1) at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the semifinals at Western Michigan University. Not bad for a team that returned just one starter from last season (Shimek) and two other varsity players. "It's overwhelming," said Glen Lake coach Sue Flowers. "It was just a matter of believing - me believing in them, getting them to believe in themselves and teaching them to believe in each other." "I thought it would be basketball more than anything," Laker senior Jenny Leach added. "We've come a long way. We learned how to communicate a lot better. "Playing as a team is the big thing. It's not just Liz, it's not just Dana (Westover). It's everybody." Westover and Shimek did set the tone early against Ishpeming (33-6-3). The Hematites started serving first and had the first attack of the match. Westover stuffed it to give the Lakers a sideout. Ashley Solmose, the second server for the Lakers, reeled off six straight points. Shimek had the first point on a kill and had two more later on blocks. "That was awesome," Shimek said of Westover's block. "It just started us off on the right foot. It pumped everybody up." "That was big," Flowers said. "That set the tone early." Glen Lake finished off the first game shutout by getting three-point service runs from Shimek, Leach and Nicole Hamilton. "We came out really focused and played with a lot of intensity," said Shimek, who finished the match with 12 kills, five blocks, four digs and served 7-for-7 with two aces. "We came out knowing that we weren't going to let anything drop." "I thought the other team would be stronger," said Leach. "But I think we came out focused, ready to play." The first game ended with just one complete rotation. "Fifteen to zero was a little bit of a surprise," Flowers said. "It was a nice surprise. When you get to this level, you don't expect to beat a team by that score." "We were intimidated," Ishpeming coach Jean Jandron said. "U.P. teams seldom get below the bridge and I think the intimidation factor set in. Once the girls settled down, they were all right. Unfortunately, we let them get too many points." Glen Lake scored the first three points of game two before Ishpeming finally got on the board on a hitting error by the Lakers. The Lakers eventually held leads of 11-3 and 14-5 before the Hematites made a little run at the end, particularly when Leach injured her knee colliding with one of her teammates. After Ishpeming held off three game points, the Hematites finally folded on a point by Robin Mikowski. "Going back to Kalamazoo," Flowers said. "I can't say enough with how they're playing as a team. They're playing with a lot of heart and determination." In addition to Shimek's 12 kills, the Lakers also got three kills from Solmose, two for Westover and one from Leach. Solmose also served 10-for-12 with one ace and had five digs. Leach also finished with eight digs. Stacy Rader was 10-for-11 serving with three aces and eight digs while Hamilton was 5-for-5 and also contributed a pair of digs. Setter Ashley Heming finished with 19 assists for the Lakers. |
|
