Round 1: Chargers

Churchill puts clamps on KLAA South lead, but rematch looms in a few weeks

  If you walked past Livonia Churchill's raucous, loud-as-a-jumbo-jet-engine gymnasium Thursday night, and you didn't know better, you may have thought there was a health-care debate taking place.

  The cheering was deafening at times.

  In actuality, there was a debate going on, but it was all about whether Livonia Churchill or Canton's volleyball team would maintain their ultra-healthy records in the KLAA South Division.

  Powered by the front-row tandem of Cierra Yetts and Sarah Suppelsa, the Chargers prevailed in four games -- 23-25, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-14 -- to grab sole possession of first place with a 3-0 mark. Canton slipped to 2-1.

  The two teams could meet again this weekend at the Bedford Invitational. They will meet again at Canton in mid-October.

  "Our biggest problems tonight were our lack of communication and inconsistent serving," noted Canton coach Mary Kryska. "There were times when we trailed , let's say, 24-20, and we'd miss a serve. Or if it was 21-20 and we'd hit a serve into the net. Those kinds of mistakes are huge turning points, especially when they come late in close games.

  "I'm not mad, though, because I didn't think we played that bad. We'll move on from this and not hang our heads low because we didn't play that bad."

  The Chiefs played like a dominant unit in the first game when they overcame a 19-14 deficit to earn a 25-23 victory. Trailing 22-21, Canton evened the game on an ace by Lauren Macuga. After Erin Menard's kill put the Chargers ahead 23-22, the Chiefs rallied for the next three points on a kill by Kristen Muir, a Kielty block and a Kielty kill.

  "The reason we were so successful in the first game is because we fed Jordan a lot," said Kryska. "She got a lot of kills the first game, then we started getting a little scored and we started to tip too much. We didn't feed Jordan enough because she only had half the kills she had in the first game.

  "It seems like Kristen Muir gets a kill every time she gets an opportunity, but we still have to go more to our biggest hitter."

  The first 80 percent of Game 2 was tighter than rush-hour traffic on I-275 as neither team could pull away from the other. However, the Chargers broke a 19-all draw with a five-point run to pull away for a 25-20 triumph. An exclamation point on the late rally was provided by Yetts, who slammed a kill so hard into the Chiefs' side of the net that the ball nearly hit some low-hanging lights on the ascent.

  Game 3 was worth the price of admission. as both teams reached their incredible potential. The only things that outdid the diving digs and sizzling serves were the floor-denting kills. Muir was the Chiefs' No. 1 hitman, notching five kills in the game along with a soft-as-a-feather tip. However, the Chargers went up 2-1 in games thanks to the powerful efforts of Yetts and Suppelsa.

  Yetts cemented the game-three victory with a pair of game-ending slams.

  Game four was the only one that did not go down to the wire. Churchill was in-sync from the opening serve and rolled to a 25-14 win.
 

Ed Wright can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 453-1980.