WHITTEMORE-PRESCOTT - Oct. 29, 2007 - For the past 25 years, Pinconning wore the target coming into the North East Michigan Conference round-robin volleyball tourney, which counts for half the season of the league schedule.

By the time the tournament started Monday, Ogemaw Heights, which held a two-game lead coming in, had the targets on their backs.

The Falcons wore those targets well, going 5-1 on the day and claiming their first league title in since 1983, which also marked the beginning of Pinny's run. The two teams shared the title that season.

This time, there's no sharing. The Falcons finished with an 11-1 league mark, two games ahead of John Glenn's 9-3.

"The NEMC tournament is always an emotional day," said Ogemaw coach Diane Gillette. "Anyone can come from behind and knock out the top seeds. We knew going today that we had a target on our back. We also knew going that we needed four wins to have at least a share of the title.

"We didn't want to share. We wanted it all to ourselves, and that helped us come alive in the last game to beat Pinny."

By that time, the Spartans had been knocked out of the running by consecutive losses to John Glenn and Standish-Sterling. The Bobcats, who at 4-2 also had a shot to catch the Falcons if everything fell into place, handed Ogemaw its only loss of the day behind a dominant performance by Lauren Bluhm, and needed a Pinny win over Ogemaw in the Falcons' final match of the day to tie for the title.

The Falcons pulled away from a 21-19 edge late in the first game to score the final four points, then fell behind in the second game 4-1. Meaghan Tackebury and Emily Sheltrown led the charge as the Falcons took control of the net and outscored the Spartans 24-5 to close out the day with the sweep and secure the title for themselves.

Pinny had played with fire through its first three matches, losing first games to Whittemore-Prescott and Tawas Area before coming back to win, and falling in the second game to Oscoda before pulling out a third-game win against the Owls.

The Spartans' luck ran out against Glenn, which pulled out a 25-19, 23-25, 28-26 victory to knock Pinny three games back and give the Bobcats' chances a boost. The Spartans went on to get swept by Standish-Sterling and Ogemaw to finish the day at 3-3.

"Twenty-five years is nothing to hang our heads over," said Pinny coach Annie Diener. "We really wanted 26, but it just wasn't meant to be. Trying to uphold a tradition that is even older than the coach, let alone the players, is really tough.

"We worked hard this season, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be."

Standish-Sterling also went 5-1 for the day and leapfrogged Pinny into third place. The Panthers' 8-4 league mark is the best in years, but Monday's performance was particularly impressive considering SSC lost key cog Olivia Picard to an injury in their second match of the day -- just two days after losing Christina Proulx, typically Picard's sub -- to a broken hand during practice earlier in the week.

"That was the one thing I feared," said SSC coach Kristi Yenna. "Any injury isn't going to be good for us, but especially Olivia, who is such a good all-around player. But yes, we're pretty excited with how we came back from that and had a very good day."

The Panthers were unfortunate enough to play Ogemaw in their first game without Picard, and the Falcons quickly took a 25-15, 25-19 sweep as SSC tried to adjust.

"It didn't help to not have her," Yenna said, "but Ogemaw is very good. We might have been able to give them more of a game, but the way they played, I don't know if it would have been enough."

Terra Hartley's steady performance at setter Terra Hartley, and Ellen Walderzak and Cassandra Roehm's work on the front line helped steady the Panthers. SSC came back to sweep W-P, then handed Pinny a 25-21, 25-20 sweep and finished the day with an impressive 25-8, 25-21 victory over Glenn.

Tawas went 2-4 on the day but played took three of the four contenders to three games for going down. The Braves' 18-25, 25-22, 21-25 loss to Ogemaw in the middle of the day, in which they were on the verge of victory, could well have shaken up the entire league race. After dropping their first four matches, Tawas came back to outlast Oscoda 28-30, 25-15, 25-16 to take their first win of the day, then finished with a 25-12, 25-17 sweep of W-P.

Oscoda's lone win came against the Cardinals, but the Owls took both Ogemaw and Pinny to three games.

W-P went 0-6, but gave notice that it would be an interesting day by opening up with a 25-22 victory over Pinny before dropping the final two games 17-25, 20-25. The Cards were competitive in four of their six matches, getting handled by Ogemaw 25-12, 25-16 and losing big to Tawas in their final match.

Ogemaw (35-15-8 overall) started the day strong, sweeping W-P 25-12, 25-16 in their first match before beating Oscoda in three games and sweeping SSC and defeating Tawas.

The loss to Glenn had the potential to be very damaging, especially after the Falcons built a 23-15 in the second game only to see Bluhm serve out with 10 straight points to give the Bobcats the sweep. But after a break during which SSC swept Pinny, the Falcons came back focused and ready to take the title for themselves.

"I'm very proud of how they played throughout the day," Gillette said. "They stayed focused and did the job.

"We set out at the beginning of the year with the goal of winning the conference and at first I thought it might be a heavy task. They proved me wrong right away as we started to come together and win.

"It has been a long 25 years and this group of girls should be proud of everything they did today. It was a total team effort. It hasn't totally sunk in, but I'm sure it will soon."

Of course, the feelings are quite different for Pinny, though Diener was gracious in passing the torch to a new champion.

"Congratulations to the other conference teams, especially Ogemaw and Glenn," she said. "And thank you to all that have been a part of Pinconning's impressive tradition. It wasn't easy."

 

Scores & Stats:

Ogemaw Heights - def. Whittemore-Prescott 25-12, 25-16; def. Oscoda 25-19, 22-25, 25-19; def. Standish-Sterling 25-15, 25-19; def. Tawas area 25-18, 22-25, 25-21; lost to John Glenn 19-25, 23-25; def. Pinconning 25-19, 25-9

Ogemaw Stats - Meaghan Tackebury 53 kills, 4 aces; Jacie Lucas 16 kills, 51 digs; Lauren Gillette 25 kills, 13 aces, 98 assists; Jordan Foster 34 kills, 6 aces, 97 digs; Emily Walker 14 kills; Emily Sheltrown 11 kills; Tiffani Rouse 86 digs.

John Glenn - def. Oscoda 25-17, 25-19; def. Tawas Area 25-15, 25-14; def. Whittemore-Prescott 25-19, 25-22; def. Pinconning 25-19, 23-25, 28-26; def. Ogemaw Heights 25-19, 25-23; lost to Standish-Sterling 8-25, 21-25

Standish-Sterling - def. Tawas Area 25-7, 23-25, 25-17; def. Oscoda 25-17, 25-15; lost to Ogemaw Heights 15-25, 19-25; def. Whittemore-Prescott 25-21, 25-13; def. Pinconning 25-21, 25-20; def. John Glenn 25-8, 25-21

Pinconning - def. Whittemore-Prescott 22-25, 25-17. 25-20; def. Tawas Area 20-25, 25-17, 25-18; def. Oscoda 25-15, 23-25, 25-21; lost to John Glenn 19-25, 25-23, 26-28; lost to Standish-Sterling 21-25, 20-25; lost to Ogemaw Heights 19-25, 12-25.

Pinny Stats - Lori LaFave 19 aces, 28 kills, 47 digs; Chelsea Gruszynski 109 assists; Samantha Bellhorn 18 aces; Lauren Lahar 81 digs; Sarah Schumacher 16 aces, 44 kills, 6 solo blocks, 6 block assists.

Tawas Area - lost to Standish-Sterling 7-25, 25-23, 17-25; lost to John Glenn 15-25, 14-25; lost to Pinconning 25-20, 17-25, 18-25; def. Oscoda 28-30, 25-15, 25-16; def. Whittemore-Prescott 25-12, 25-17

Oscoda - lost to John Glenn 17-25, 19-25; lost to Standish-Sterling 17-25, 15-25; lost to Ogemaw Heights 19-25, 25-22, 19-25; lost to Pinconning 15-25, 25-23, 21-25; def. Whittemore-Prescott 25-20, 25-19; lost to Tawas Area 30-28, 15-25, 16-25.

Whittemore-Prescott - lost to Pinconning 25-22, 17-25, 20-25; lost to Ogemaw Heights 12-25, 16-25; lost to John Glenn 19-25, 22-25; lost to Standish-Sterling 21-25, 13-25; lost to Oscoda 20-25, 19-25; lost to Tawas Area 12-25, 17-25.