News

SIDNEY — Montcalm Community College volleyball celebrated the first regional tournament victory in program history Thursday, Nov. 5, defeating Terra State Community College in straight sets before falling to St. Clair County Community College later in the day to finish 1-1 in the Great Lakes District B Tournament. 

The Centurions opened the double-elimination tournament with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 sweep of Terra State at Grand Rapids Community College’s Gerald R. Ford Fieldhouse before running into a powerful St. Clair County squad that earned a 25-18, 25-7, 25-10 victory in the second-round matchup. 

The split kept MCC alive in the tournament, with the Centurions scheduled to face the winner of Southwest Michigan College and Marian University Plymouth in an elimination match later today. 

Centurions start tournament with historic sweep 

Montcalm showed little sign of nerves in the district tournament, controlling much of the match against Terra State. 

The Centurions gained separation in the opening set midway through a service run by Erin Borek (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Holding a slim 12-11 advantage, MCC scored six consecutive points to build an 18-11 lead and eventually claimed a 25-18 victory. 

Montcalm carried the momentum into the second set. Strong play at the net from Ayanna Sanders (Caledonia, Mich.), Andie Bennett (Reed City, Mich.) and Aubrie Uebele (Greenville, Mich.) helped the Centurions maintain control throughout a 25-17 win. 

The third set proved to be the most competitive. Terra State pulled even at 13-13 after erasing an early deficit, but MCC responded behind a balanced offensive attack. Bennett delivered several key kills late in the set, and the Centurions closed out a 25-19 victory to complete the sweep. 

Freshman setter Amy Anderson (Blanchard, Mich.) said the team's success came from its ability to lean on one another throughout the match. 

“I feel like we just motivated each other,” Anderson said. “We really held each other accountable and disciplined each other.” 

Anderson said the victory reinforced how important every player is to the team's success. 

“From this win, I think I learned that it takes everybody to win,” she said. 

She also credited the Centurions' back-row defense for helping the offense operate efficiently. 

“I think Jocee (Pleune) did a really good job in our back row,” Anderson said of the Grant defensive specialist who earned back-to-back MCCAA Northern Defensive Player of the Week honors. “She's been the defensive player of the week for a reason, and I think our other DS's take care of things well so I don't have to move that much, so it quickens up the offense.” 

Head coach Kara Youngs said the team handled the atmosphere well despite the challenges of competing in an unfamiliar setting. 

“I was happy and excited because nerves can set in with this being their first time getting to this tournament,” Youngs said. “There was a lot happening, so being able to take the game in three (sets), we made a couple adjustments here and there, but we played a pretty clean game.” 

Youngs said MCC focused on earning points rather than relying on opponent mistakes. 

“We always say force the other team to make plays,” she said. “This week we really focused on earned points, and that's what they did. They didn't live off errors. I thought they did a really great job.” 

She also pointed to the team's balance across the lineup. 

“Everybody was so evenly consistent in this game,” Youngs said. “That last set, Andie had back-to-back-to-back kills that gave us the momentum to close out that set. Our setters did really well moving the ball around and reading the blockers. I thought both did well on set selection, as well.” 

St. Clair County powers past MCC 

Montcalm's reward for its opening-round victory was a matchup with St. Clair County, which entered the tournament with a 26-5 overall record. 

The Centurions battled early, recovering from a 4-0 deficit in the opening set and eventually building a 13-11 lead. The Skippers answered with a dominant stretch behind the serving of Bella McCamman, closing the set on a 14-5 run to secure a 25-18 victory. 

St. Clair County carried that momentum into the second set, using a powerful attack and strong serving to race to a 13-3 advantage before rolling to a 25-7 win. 

The third set followed a similar pattern. The Skippers prevented MCC from establishing its offense and completed the sweep with a 25-10 victory. 

Youngs said St. Clair County's tempo and system created problems throughout the match. 

“That was a tough team,” Youngs said. “We didn't pass well. It was hard for us to get them out of system. They had a very quick and strong system. That put our blockers really behind and half the blocks we had we were questioning where to stand.” 

Young said the Skippers were just playing strong on system and the Centurions’ pass and receive was not very strong. 

“That made us have to hit out of system a lot of the times, which gave them an easy offense to run,” Youngs said. 

Youngs said MCC struggled to create enough opportunities to disrupt the Skippers' offense. 

“We just didn't get enough pass opportunities to get them out of system,” she said. 

Despite the lopsided loss, Youngs believes the experience will benefit the Centurions moving forward. 

“I told my players that this was a really good team, and it's a really good match for us because we'll be playing that type of tempo and pace again,” Youngs said. “This will help us be much more prepared for our next game. I told them to stay positive with the fact we're 1-1 in the tournament and learn from the tempo we saw today and apply it to the next game tomorrow.” 

Youngs said the key will be returning to the cleaner style of play MCC displayed against Terra State. 

“We just have to play cleaner,” she said. “We played clean the first half against Terra State, so when we know we can play clean, keep our opportunities going and play better, we earn points. Against St. Clair, I felt like we had a lot of errors and we didn't play our cleanest. We just need to keep playing like we have trained and played all season, being able to run our offense more.” 

Southwest Michigan College and Marian University Plymouth will play at 11 a.m. today to see who advances to face Montcalm. MCC will play the winner at 1 p.m. today. If MCC wins, the Centurions will then move into the next round and play at 5 p.m. today.