Hot and Cold Royals Lose in Finals

Coach Sandi Porter and the Royals caught a glimpse of the team’s potential at the Blissfield Invitational Volleyball tournament Saturday.

The Royals (7-3-1) went 4-2 at the tournament, losing both matches, including the championship, to Adrian Madison.

Blissfield went 2-1 in pool play, defeating Michigan Center (25-13, 15-19) and Britton-Deerfield (15-16, 15-15) and losing to Madison (26-27, 19-25). The Lady Royals played a tall and athletic Morenci team in the quarterfinals. In the first game, Blissfield was absolutely unstoppable at times. Ashley LaRoy’s serve was too hot to handle. Celia Coopshaw was fearsome as middle hitter. The defense picked up everything sent its way, and passed it nicely to setting artist Taylor Jacob, who dished it off to big hitters, LaRoy, Coopshaw, Zoe Brennan and Laura Goetz.

Blissfield won the game 25-17 before edging Morenci 25-23 to clinch a berth in the semifinals against Sand Creek.

“Wow. That was something to see,” said Porter, after the tournament. “At least we know how good we can be.”

But Blissfield wasn’t that good at all times. The Royals barely got past Sand Creek and then never really tested a very quick and efficient Madison team.

“We were up and down. We’ve got some things to work on,” Porter said. “Our service receive and our blocking needs to get better.”

The Royals lost in the finals, 16-25 and 14-25.

Blissfield looked pretty good to start the finals. Coopshaw had two kills for a 2-0 lead. After two Madison points, LaRoy’s kill made it 3-2. Two teams traded points until it was 9-9. With Brittany Benschoter serving, Madison rolled off eight straight points to take a commanding lead. Blissfield ended the run when Zoe Brennan made a diving stop to save a point. The ball rebounded over the net and found Madison’s floor for a big point. The Royals put up two more points to make it 12-17, but Madison responded with three straight points to essentially put the Royals away.

In game two, the Royals came out fired up. Kills by Coopshaw and Goetz made it 2-0. Once again, it was a pretty even battle in early the game. When Coopshaw’s spike found the floor for a 9-8 lead, it was the last lead Blissfield enjoyed.  A serve into the net tied it, and then Madison’s Taylor Crison had two straight kills to make it 11-9. After a Madison serve into the net, the Trojans put up three more points, to make it 14-10. When Coopshaw’s block made it 11-14, it was the last point Blissfield would force in the tournament. Madison scored the next point and then made two errors for Blissfield points. Crison had three straight kills to make it 18-13 before she served a ball long for a Blissfield point. Then Benschoter served out, as Madison won 25-14.

The finals were in stark contrast to the first Blissfield-Morenci game, when the Royals dictated play.

Blissfield began the quarterfinals with LaRoy serving. Her powerful serves forced Morenci to scramble to put the ball over net. As a result, Blissfield’s defense had no trouble picking up the Morenci shots and passing them to Jacob, who doesn’t make many mistakes with good passes. Coopshaw had two kills to open the game. Goetz followed with two kills. Then LaRoy made it 5-0 with an ace, before Goetz’s kill made it 6-0. After LaRoy’s serve into the net, Blissfield picked up two more points, including one by Coopshaw where she saw a shot coming over the net and then smashed straight back into Morenci territory for a point. After three-points, the Royals made it 9-4 with a cross-court kill by Coopshaw.

The Royals ran into trouble, however, with a couple unforced errors and two aces by a Morenci server. Suddenlyt, the game was tied at nine.

Powered by three aces from Stephanie Salters, the Royals scored the next four points of the game. Morenci then added two points that were answered by a Megan Knierim ace and Zoe Brenna tip. After another Morenci point and a Bulldog shot into the net, Brennan made a great diving dig in the back row, which eventually set up a LaRoy kill for a 17-12 lead. But the Bulldogs hung around, putting up four straight points to make it 17-16. A Morenci shot into the net set up a six-point run, which featured three aces by LaRoy and another kills for Coopshaw. Blissfield finished with a 25-17 win.

Game two started with a 5-2 Blissfield lead after a kill by LaRoy and Jacob and a couple Morenci errors. Morenci tied it at five before Coopshaw’s two kills sparked a four-point run. Morenci hung tough and took a 12-11 lead. Brennan’s kill started a six-point run, which also featured a Coopshaw block, LaRoy kill, Brennan ace and Jacob tip. But Morenci responded with five straight points to tie the game at 17.

The Bulldogs took a 22-21 lead but gave it up with a long serve. Salter’s ace gave the Royals a 23-22 lead. Morenci and Blissfield traded points and LaRoy clinched the game and match with an ace.

The Royals semifinals match against Sand Creek featured a couple of stunning momentum shifts.

Blissfield took a 4-0 lead in game one with a kill and two aces from LaRoy and a block by Goetz. After a kill and tip from Coopshaw, and an ace served by Jacob, it was 8-2. Goetz then scored a kill and two straight aces to make it 12-4 and the Royals were rolling.

But a net violation against Blissfield started a five-point Sand Creek run to help the Aggies back in the game. Everytime Blissfield looked like it would pull away, the Aggies found a way back. Kills by Goetz and Coopshaw made it 18-13. But the Aggies earned three straight points. Jacob’s block gave Blissfield another point, but the Aggies fired off two straight points. Renee Cantrell gave Blissfield a 21-19 lead with a kill from the back row, but Sand Creek shocked the Royals by ending the game with a six-point run.

It looked like the afternoon might end in the semifinals. The Royals seemed to be misfiring. A long shot by LaRoy and then a spike into the net by Knierim made it 12-7 Sand Creek. But after a Sand Creek serve into the net, Knierim stepped up to serve. She fired an ace. It was one of five aces she fired on a 10-point run, which also featured three kills by LaRoy.

“That was something,” Porter said. “We needed someone to step up at that point and that’s exactly what she did.”

Sand Creek stayed within striking distance, but Salters’ ace gave Blissfield the 25-19 victory, setting up the tiebreaker.

With Sand Creek leading 5-4, Goetz had two kills. The Aggies scored the next two points, and LaRoy landed a kill and Knierim fired an ace to make it 9-8.

With the score 10-10, Sand Creek fired a long shot out of bounds. Coopshaw followed with her second block of the game for a 12-10 lead. Both teams limped through the next few minutes, with each team committing unforced errors leading to a 14-12 lead. LaRoy ended the suspense with a kill to propel Blissfield into the finals.