Preseason Scrimmage Preview: North Branch
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We are almost there! The 2022 season has officially begun with practices and a few scrimmages but we are officially three days away from the official start date for competition in Michigan. Some teams are itching for competition early though…
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Continue ReadingWe are almost there! The 2022 season has officially begun with practices and a few scrimmages but we are officially three days away from the official start date for competition in Michigan. Some teams are itching for competition early though and North Branch will be playing host to a scrimmage quad this Thursday (Aug 18).
This scrimmage quad makes for a great opening round of competition for all teams involved. North Branch is a returning Division 2 Runner-Up and Cass City and Garber are two teams that saw themselves in the regional rounds in 2021. Grand Blanc isn’t too shabby either with their dynamo outside, Remi Madison Remi Madison 5'9" | OH Grand Blanc | 2023 State MI .
Let’s take a sneak peak at whats to come from this preseason scrimmage in North Branch.
North Branch
Starting off with the hosts, North Branch seems to be a fairly self-explanatory team coming in. They return just about everybody from their starting line up from last November and they bring in a talented freshman that can shake things up. Between the likes of L Hailey Green Hailey Green 5'1" | DS/L North Branch | 2024 State MI , MB Kaela Chingwa Kaela Chingwa 6'3" | MB North Branch | 2024 State MI , and OH Alana Deshetsky Alana Deshetsky 5'8" | OH North Branch | 2024 State MI , this team has a lot of veteran leadership as the three have been mainstays since their freshman year. I am curious to see in what capacity freshman Aubree Deshetsky will be used. The young gun is rumored to be a talented attacker like her sister but also a skilled setter to challenge long time starter Adrienne Greschaw Adrienne Greschaw 5'9" | S North Branch | 2024 State MI .
Essexville-Garber
Just like the hosts, Essexville-Garber returns just about the entirety of their starting line up. This includes their own trio of veteran leaders in OH Emma Dufresne Emma Dufresne 5'8" | OH Essexville-Garber | 2023 State MI , MB Ashlee Lenhard Ashlee Lenhard 5'10" | MB Essexville-Garber | 2023 State MI , and L Laney Kokaly Laney Kokaly 5'6" | DS/L Essexville-Garber | 2023 MI . The three are touted as some of the best to ever don a Dukes jersey and they are all hungry for a historic season for their senior year. The three will cross paths with the same team that ended their season in 2021, North Branch. This will be a very fun one to watch on Thursday.
Cass City
This could be the year of the Red Hawk and this will be the first glimpse we’ll see of what exactly that might be in 2022. Hawks return the dynamic duo that is Shelby Ignash Shelby Ignash 6'1" | MB Cass City | 2025 State #124 Nation MI in the middle and Kacee Gray Kacee Gray 5'7" | OH Cass City | 2025 State MI on the outside. They also return senior setter Saylar Cuthrell Saylar Cuthrell 5'6" | S Cass City | 2023 MI who was promoted to 5-1 duties last season. I’ll be curious to see the fresh faces of this team and how they integrate. Cass City loses a senior leader Kalee Gray Kalee Gray 5'9" | MB Cass City | 2022 MI and Abbey Halabis. Gray brought the heat in the middle and Halabis was more valued for her ball control than offense. If they can bring in a body or two to at least match or elevate the production those two brought, this is a tough team.
Grand Blanc
Grand Blanc returns a lot of fire power last year and showed a lot of promise last season. Entering her senior year is the high flier on the left side in Remi Madison Remi Madison 5'9" | OH Grand Blanc | 2023 State MI . Madison has a cannon for an arm and a great touch in the back court. Opposite of her is another cannon with Laila Bates. Watching Bates in the club season, I saw a huge improvement from her high school season last year. The two combined will make a deadly duo on the pins. Grand Blanc also returns their setter, Skylar Cramer, who is coming in with a few seasons of experience and great connection with the two.