Rising to the occasion

Plymouth spikers take second at
the UM-Dearborn tournament

  Plymouth's volleyball team extended its string of excellent weekend performances when it placed second at Saturday's University of Michigan-Dearborn tournament.

  The Wildcats' lone loss was to Ida (25-17, 25-23) in the championship match. Plymouth is now 16-5-1 overall.

  "Unfortunately, my girls did not really start playing until the second game when we were down 20-15," said Plymouth coach Kelly McCausland, referring to the title tilt against Ida. "They came out of a timeout with a fierce attitude and came back from a fairly large deficit, but it was too late.

  "Ida was a very well-rounded team with a great libero, and a couple of big attackers. We, on the other hand, did not bring out our guns until it was too late. You cannot play timid against a team like that; you need to come out swinging when the passes are good."

  Junior Alex Roberts had an excellent day, racking up a team-high 35 kills.

  "It seemed like every ball Alex touched became a kill," said McCausland.

  Also shining for the Wildcats were Kayla Bridge (28 kills, 43 digs), Mariah Tesarz (63 digs), Dani Risi (25 kills), Katie Salo (101 assists, 27 digs) and Laura Schmid, who registered 26 digs.

  The Wildcats opened by spiking Cass Tech, 25-10, 25-5, before splitting with a tough Richmond team, 21-25, 25-16.

  After a 25-11, 25-15 victory over Dearborn Heights Annapolis in the final pool-play contest, the Wildcats thumped Dearborn Ford son, 25-16, 25-12 in the quarterfinals before sweeping Detroit Renaissance in the semis, 25-15, 25-17.

Ed Wright can be reached at info@plymouthcantonsports.com or (734) 453-1980.