Metro Detroit — Last weekend was a hectic one for Catholic League squads in pursuit of state championships in volleyball, swimming and football.
VOLLEYBALL — All season long, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep’s volleyball team played under the pressure that comes from being regarded the best among the state’s Class B schools.
After breezing through the district and regional rounds of state tournament competition, the No. 1-ranked Fighting Irish battled through eight match points in a gut-wrenching, five-set quarterfinal victory against past nemesis North Branch to continue their quest for a state title at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Center.
“I feel the success helped us to maintain our cool when faced with tremendous adversity,” Coach Betty Wroubel told reporters. Wroubel, with 20 years coaching volleyball, directed Notre Dame to its first championship in 2007.
Her players exhibited a maturity beyond their years in beating two formidable rivals. The first was No. 2 Wayland Union in a Friday evening semi-final — which the Irish won in four grueling sets — and then, the second less than 24 hours later the next afternoon, No. 5-ranked Grand Rapids South Christian. Notre Dame persevered in another tense, four-set conquest, 25-15, 25-19, 19-25, 25-23.
Notre Dame’s dominating front line and a ferocious defense proved to be the difference. Five-foot-11 junior Katherine Carlson had a team-leading 49 kills in the two games, including eight in the last set of the championship game; 6-foot-2 senior Dani McCormick totaled 34 kills, and 6-foot-1 junior Jenna Sassack, 21 kills. On the other end of the height scale, 5-foot-4 Emma Kowalkowski, a sophomore, sparked the backcourt with 46 digs.
SWIMMING — For Farmington Hills Mercy swimmers, practice is fun. “That’s where the battle is, the preparation. The girls enjoy it,” said Marlins coach Shannon Dunworth, after his team won the Division 1 championship at Oakland University, the school’s eighth state crown.
Mercy used its depth to score 271 points, 20 more than runner-up Saline. The Marlins won just two of the 12 events and two second places to go along with several other finishes among each event’s top eight.
One of the first-place finishes was a Division 1 record. Roxanne Griffore, Maddy Loniewski, Alaina Skellett and Kathleen McGee made up the 200 freestyle relay team that was timed in 1:35.31.
In Division 2, Marian wound up a distant second place to Holland. A bright spot was the record-setting performance of junior Mollie Pulte. She broke the LP Division 2 Finals record for the 200 meter with a time of 1:47.90 in the preliminaries and set another meet record as she won the 100 in 49.87 seconds.
FOOTBALL — Novi Detroit Catholic Central in Division 1, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice in Division 2, and Detroit Loyola in Division 7 all won semifinal games to move up to the state championship finals this weekend at Ford Field.
The Shamrocks avenged state final losses to Detroit Cass Tech the last two years by humbling the Technicians, 28-0. CC (11-2) will meet Clarkston (12-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Brother Rice (13-0) ran away from Detroit King, 43-20, and plays Muskegon (12-1) at 1p.m. Friday in a rematch of last year’s finale, won by Rice.
In another rematch, Detroit Loyola, 52-7 conquerors of Homer, hopes to reverse the outcome of last year’s finale against Ishpeming at 10 a.m. Saturday. Both teams are 13-0.
