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March 11, 2005Blissfield blockSuttons Bay's run ends in semi finalsByRecord-Eagle staff writer KALAMAZOO - Suttons Bay's volleyball team played at a high level all season. The Norse saw the level of play go a step further on Thursday in the Class C semifinals in Kalamazoo. Unfortunately for Suttons Bay, it was on the other side of the net. Blissfield came at Suttons Bay from all angles to hand the Norse a 25-9, 25-15, 25-17 setback. Suttons Bay ends its first season under coach Mike Kelly with a 46-6-4 record. "It's a lot different volleyball down here," Suttons Bay senior Kate Kerr said. "They ran a lot of quick sets and we couldn't block it. It's just a whole different game." "They run everything a lot faster down here," senior Tiffany Dittrich added. "I don't think we came mentally prepared for what we were up against." What Suttons Bay was up against was an attack that made very few mistakes. Blissfield (42-10-6), which will meet Ravenna for the state title on Saturday at 2 p.m., hit at a .333 clip as a team and recorded 16 more digs than the Norse. "We were against a team that was better than us," Kelly added. "They played a higher, faster game and defense was a real difference. We hit a lot of good shots at them. "They got them off the floor and hit them right back at us." "They work very well as a team," Blissfield coach Sandi Porter said of her squad. "They cover for each other. They care about each other and they care about the team. They're just an awesome group of girls to work with." Blissfield also wasted little time in taking charge of the semifinal match. The Royals scored the first three points of the game and reeled off nine unanswered points early in game one to take a 13-3 advantage. The final eight of those points came on a serving run by Molly Schroeder that featured five miscues by the Norse. "We played nervous in game one," Kelly said. "We made a lot of mistakes, but they still played well. We made mistakes because they made us make mistakes." Suttons Bay made 11 attack errors in the opening game. The Norse had 11 total in the second two games, but Blissfield kept the pressure on. In the second game, the Royals ran off another nine unanswered points to build a 12-3 edge. "They say, 'Let's push it,' " Porter said. "You get a team down, keep pushing hard." "When we get in a rut and give up points, it's not just one, but it's five or six points," Kerr said. The third game was more of a back-and-forth affair. It was knotted 12-12 at the end of the first complete service rotation, but Blissfield inched to a lead thanks to a four-point service run by Ashley Albright and were able to close out Suttons Bay. Chelsea Laundra led the Blissfield offense with 12 kills while Nikki Pawson added 10. Schroeder finished with 29 assists for the Royals. Albright topped Blissfield on defense with 16 digs while Lexi Esterline and Margaret Faulkner each had 12. Pawson also added four total blocks and a team-high three aces. "She was an outstanding server," Kelly said. "She seemed to have the ability to hit that net and still drop it over. I almost think she was aiming for it." Suttons Bay was led on offense by eight kills from Dittrich and Holly Orban, who also had the lone block for the Norse. Heather Padella finished with 13 assists while Emily Klintworth added three. Klintworth and Orban topped the Norse in digs with nine each while Dittrich added eight and Kerr seven. "We didn't get the pass we needed to run our offense," Kelly said. "Then we got a marginal set and our hitters were hitting from places we don't want them to hit from." Despite the loss, the Suttons Bay players were pleased with reaching the semifinals for the first time since 2001. "I never really thought we would make it this far," said Dittrich, one of five seniors on the roster for Suttons Bay. "As a senior, it hasn't really sunk in yet. But I'm glad I'm here with the people I'm with. It's nothing to cry about." "It was a great ride," Kerr added. "I'm so, so happy we got this far. I'm disappointed how it ended, but I'm happy we got here and I wouldn't want to be here with anybody else." Kelly echoed the comments from his players after his first season of coaching volleyball came to an end. "It was a great ride for the first year," he said. "I'm really proud of them. "I'm disappointed that we lost. But getting to this point was a real dream."
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