Hart volleyball plays at high level, dispatches rival Shelby

SHELBY — While Hart and Shelby are not, for the moment, conference rivals after the West Michigan Conference moved Hart into the Lakes division in its recent realignment, that took nothing away from the atmosphere the two fan bases brought to Thursday's match. Both student sections brought the excitement - so much so that Shelby coach McKenna Peters said her team struggled to overcome it in the Pirates' dominating 25-15, 25-15, 25-12 win.

The Pirates, meanwhile, matched the moment, delivering one of their more impressive performances in what's been a very successful start to the season. The team hit close to .200 for the night, a benchmark for a strong offensive showing. Reese Smith, who racked up 14 kills and an outstanding .386 hitting percentage, ended the night with a laser beam kill that bounded off a Tiger defender to the floor.

"I told them, that's the way you end a match, because that leaves a lasting memory," Hart coach Shawn Bectel said. "And they're not a bad team, but when we click, we're tough. That's where it gets tough. I think they are a solid team, but I think that we play the competition we play because we want to play at this level and we know that's what's going to make us have a shot at going far this year."

Hart has faced several high-level opponents this year, starting from the first serve, when they grabbed the championship trophy at the Coopersville Invitational. The Tigers haven't been able to play as much early in the season, and Peters said she noticed the difference.

"We have not played a bunch this season, and they've had a really hard schedule, Hart has, and so that showed coming in," Peters said. "They were just a little bit more prepared than us. The crowd didn't bother them as much as it bothered us."

Hart raced to big early leads in each of the first two games. Smith collected a couple of early kills in game one, extending a 5-3 lead to 11-4, and a great play by the Pirates to corral a ball that appeared headed out of play and turn it into a point helped send a message of how they intended to play. Hart built a lead of 19-4 and cruised to the game one win.

Game two wasn't much different, as the Pirates again went ahead 11-4 early. Smith fired a couple of aces during one serving run that made it 20-7 and paved the way for another easy win.

Hart's serving was terrific all night, as the team collected 15 aces against only three errors. Jenna Babbin had five of those aces and Grace Tucker had four.

"We definitely wanted to focus on serves because we played Shelby back in the beginning of the summer, right after tryouts, and we were a little messy with serving," Smith said. "That was a key point for us, to make sure to get those in tonight."

While Hart certainly appeared on paper to be a strong favorite after its early-season performance, the veteran-led group has adopted a mindset of performing to its standard all the time, and that - along, no doubt, with the raucous crowd of Pirate supporters that made the short trip south - helped propel the Pirates forward.

"Every day, you can get better," Bectel said. "At the end of the day, we're working hard. We've got goals this year, and we're going to keep pushing as best we can. These guys know we're never going to be satisfied with anything we do. Even if we win a game 25-0, we're not satisfied."

That said, the Pirates could take a brief moment to enjoy some satisfaction at their level of play Thursday. Smith was the offensive star, of course, but she's had plenty of help this season with the emergence of players like Braelynn Talmadge and freshman Peyton Erickson, as well as fellow freshman Mya Hovey, who notched a pair of blocks. And Alayna Schiller's defensive skills are such that Bectel chuckled that having her in the back row "is like cheating." She had 22 digs Thursday.

"I got to get everybody in there," Bectel said. "Even my subs came in and had a great contribution. The key players, when we needed them to be hot, were hot. I think that's one thing that makes us the team we are. We have a lot of options, and we've got a few more that are just going to get stronger as we go."

Shelby, on the other hand, is hoping the experience improves its roster for the challenges ahead. Bectel said he felt like the Tigers will be a strong contender in the WMC Rivers, and perhaps getting on a more regular playing schedule will help in that. Peters said that with only 10 players on the varsity roster, the team can't really scrimmage in practice, so games are the easiest way to sharpen the Tigers' skills. League play getting going and some upcoming weekend tournaments will keep Shelby on a routine of getting on the court more often

"That's what we talked about a bunch coming in, just knowing that they were a good team and understanding that the most important outcome is us getting better as a group and just to go in and play as hard as we can." Peters said. "I think they're they're a really, really good team, and they're playing a tough schedule, and they're winning a lot of games, so I give a lot of the credit to them."

Tucker had 16 assists for Hart and Calyn Eisenlohr added 13. For the Tigers, Briar Peters had a team-high 12 digs and Annabelle Stark added nine. Peters and Stark each had four kills, as did Hali Hayes. Peyton Rapes posted 12 assists.