Pewamo-Westphalia Repeats D3/D4 Showdown Champions

<h6 class="wp-block-heading"><em>Be sure to follow <strong>@lshotvb </strong>on Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter for all things volleyball!</em></h6>   <h6 class="wp-block-heading"><em><a href="https://prepdig.com/top-250-expos/">Join us at the Prep Dig Top 250 Expo</a>! Use code LShotVBExpo2023 for 10% off your registration fee.</em> (APPLICABLE TO ALL EXPOS)</h6>   <h6 class="wp-block-heading">–</h6>   <p>This was one of the biggest tournaments in the state this last weekend. Some of the top Division 3 and 4 teams took center stage at Schoolcraft College with the reigning Division 3 state champions taking home the crown.</p>   <p>Pewamo-Westphalia not only repeated this weekend as showdown champs, but they did so in epic fashion. With other standouts like Mendon, Manchester and Plymouth Christian to name a few. </p>   <p>Let's have a recap of how it all shook out this weekend in Southeast Michigan.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Pirates Brings a Raucous Crowd to Secure the Victory</h2>   <p>It's not very often that you see a crowd at a high school volleyball tournament. But when No. 2 and No. 4 went head to head in the finals, the facility was booming! Nobody travels quite like the Pirates of PW. After a lackluster first set that went the way of 15-25, the rowdiness of the winners proved to provide all the energy needed for the repeat champs to cruise home, 15-7 in the third.</p>   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/08/5-Caroline-Hengesbach.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-449727" style="width:196px;height:193px" width="196" height="193" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Caroline Hengesbach</figcaption></figure>   <p>Pewamo-Westphalia seemed to have had things pretty figured out on Saturday. The [player_tooltip player_id='172203' first='Taylor' last='Smith'] directed ship would only drop two sets all day - splitting with Mendon in pool play and going to three in the title game with Plymouth Christian. Outside of these two matches, the brooms were out. PW swept the likes of Shelby, Manchester, Ovid-Elsie and Saranac. </p>   <p>I was wondering who'd step up to the plate this season after the departure of <strong>Dani Pohl</strong>. This weekend, that question was answered with the play of OH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='732275' first='Annika' last='Platte'].</strong> The sophomore had a really great weekend bringing home 34 kills to pace the ship. This player goes up strong with every swing she breaks out. It was impressive to see out of this young gun. L <strong>Caroline Hengesbach</strong> was another big standout from the weekend. This player was a steady one from last season, but has seemingly become more integral to this squad's success. Hengesbach has arguably cemented herself as one of the top 'bros in Division III this weekend with her driven play. Rounding out the list of standouts, familiar prospect MB [player_tooltip player_id='462056' first='Saige' last='Martin'] had an outstanding showing. 40+ kills and hitting at an insane efficiency, there was hardly any ball coming off of her arm that was coming back to the Pirates' side. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Don't Count Out Plymouth Christian</h2>   <p>The Eagles may have been landed before reaching the top. But rest assured, this flock will not be going away quiet throughout the next half of the season. Despite the loss in the finals, Plymouth Christian showed incredible signs to be one of the last remaining teams, if not the last remaining team, in Division 3 come November. </p>   <p>PCA was steady cruising throughout the early goings of the day. With a pool that featured the likes of Reese, Shelby and Grass Lake, the Eagles would soar through each of them in sweeping fashion. It wouldn't be until the semifinals where No. 6 Traverse City St. Francis would put PCA on alert and test their abilities as one of the top ranked teams in the state. While tested, the Eagles ran away with the third set. This would set up a championship between PCA and PW, a rematch from an earlier season match that saw the two squads go 19-17 in a deciding set to win an early season Mt. Morris tournament. While falling once more to the Division III foe, this tournament proved to show a lot of growth from the purple and yellow team.</p>   <p>Their leader on the court, OH [player_tooltip player_id='153663' first='Allison' last='Pilat'] (Cedarville) once more paved the way this weekend. With an impeccable 50+ kill performance, Pilat seemed quite at ease scoring on Saturday. While a pretty typical standout, two other eagles had really nice outings this weekend in support of Pilat. L [player_tooltip player_id='176603' first='Kate' last='Creighton'] and MB [player_tooltip player_id='226911' first='Riley' last='Pilat'] were quite the powerhouses in their own right this weekend. Creighton averaged just over 3.5 digs per set and was rock solid in reception. Her rowdy play brings a lot of energy and spark to this team in tense moments. As for the young Pilat sister, Riley showed that she could easily take over a match if given the opportunity. 30+ kills on the weekend and in dominated fashion, Pilat's emergence in the middle could really prove to be game changing in this last half of the season.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mendon and Calumet Show Up and Show Out</h2>   <p>One of the few representatives of Division IV in the field of 16, Mendon is going to be quite the formidable force coming down these last few weeks. Despite being knocked out in the opening rounds of bracket play by PCA, Mendon ended things quite nicely in pool play by splitting with Pewamo-Westphalia, No. 2 in Division III. As suspected, the lightning in the bottle for this team is their defense led by [player_tooltip player_id='462081' first='Jadyn' last='Samson']. This player is young but quite in control of every game she plays in. As for the offense, even when they are not scoring, they're causing trouble. The middle duo of <strong>Makennah Mullin </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='462076' first='Alicyn' last='Arevalo']</strong> were pretty difficult to contain and came up huge in taking one off of PW in the last round of pool play.</p>   <p>Calumet is a returning semifinalist in Division III from a season ago. A lot was unknown about this team coming into the tournament. With the loss of their points leader, OH <strong>Helen Beiring </strong>(Northern Michigan), who was going to step up? Also, being a UP program, playing the highest level of competition is not the easiest to come by. This was the first true test for the Copper Kings. </p>   <p>Needless to say, despite splitting with Cass City in pool play and dropping to Traverse City St. Francis in the opening round of bracket play - this team is solid. S <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='473937' first='Laina' last='Kariniemi']</strong> runs a really smooth and effective offense. A lot of tempo, spreading out the ball and scrappy defense for Kariniemi set her apart from other setters in the field. She's equipped with some really nice pieces that demanded attention throughout the weekend. MB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='473930' first='Allison' last='Bjorn']</strong> and OPP <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='732233' first='Madelyn' last='Torola']</strong> were two standout players up at the net. Bjorn and Kariniemi's connection on the quick ball on the 1 and on the gap ball was virtually unstoppable all day. Any time Kariniemi had the opportunity, Bjorn was there for the quick point. Torola is really nice developing piece for this squad. A lengthy lefty on the right pin, she not only brings a lot of nice offensive touches but defensively as well with her block. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Traverse City St. Francis and Manchester - Potential Sleeper Team Come November</h2>   <figure class="wp-block-embed alignright is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx8ZimROxUn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== </div></figure>   <p>The Gladiators nearly found themselves in the championships of the Division 3/4 Showdown on Saturday. After a relatively easy maneuver through pool play, they would take down Calumet in a sweep before falling to Plymouth Christian in 3 sets. Despite the bow out, this is a squad that shouldn't be overlooked going into the post-season coming in a few weeks.</p>   <p>St. Francis has as really wicked one-two punch on the left side with [player_tooltip player_id='220968' first='Quinn' last='Yenshaw'] and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='226837' first='Garnet' last='Mullet']</strong>. If it wasn't one, it was the other. The two remain in the game all six rotations and can become a threat from the back court just as effectively as the front row. S <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='354004' first='Tessah' last='Konas']</strong> was a player under my radar until this weekend. Konas easily became a standout amongst the setters in the field alongside Smith of PW and Kariniemi of Calument. </p>   <p>For Manchester, this a team that came into the weekend unranked and from my early projections, a team that'd get beat up a bit. While dropping a tight one to TCSF, Manchester found themselves into the gold rounds. No. 2 seed in their pool, they'd be matched up with top seed Cass City in the opener. With CC's firepower, this seemed to set up a quick exit for Manchester. Not quite. Manchester would come out hot. Scrappy defense and quick point scoring, the Flying Dutch stole the opening set rather convincingly. CC would just crawl away with the second set to even things up. Manchester proved too much however. A quick shootout in the third and a too-little too-late sure by CC, Manchester set themselves up to see PW in the semis.</p>   <p>While Manchester's day would end in a contested semifinal match to PW, Saturday proved to be a big warning sign to many teams in Division III. This is a team that can get hot and run away with big wins. With a player like OH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='732217' first='Savannah' last='Flint']</strong> that can be so effective, you can't overlook them. Flint was not only dominant with 50 kills, but she backed it up with 45 digs! A presence almost inescapable for teams. Alongside her S <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='523623' first='Grace' last='Majewski'] </strong>ran a really nice court and in some unorthodox ways. The tallest on the court, Majewski saw herself at the net blocking in the middle to then come off and run her offense. Majewski averaged a block per set to go along with 77 assists. </p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cass City and Shelby Struggle Despite Highlight Performances</h2>   <p>Coming into the weekend, Cass City had been smooth sailing the last few weeks. The Hawks were winning matches by margins of 10 points or more in the GTW conference. The Showdown looked to be the first real sign of competition for this ranked squad in quite sometime. And it showed. While CC would squeeze themselves through to the top seed, the Hawks seemed to struggle quite a bit throughout pool play. This would then transpire into bracket play, where they'd bow out to unranked Manchester in the opener. </p>   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/06/5-Kacee-Gray.jpg?w=827" alt="" class="wp-image-403670" style="width:170px;height:211px" width="170" height="211" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">[player_tooltip player_id='172195' first='Kacee' last='Gray']</figcaption></figure>   <p>However the result, the Hawks had some highlight performers. It was a nice day on the pins for Cass City with both [player_tooltip player_id='172195' first='Kacee' last='Gray'] and <strong>Josie Spencer</strong> doing stand-up jobs. Gray paved the way for the Hawks with a 30+ kill day. In the match against Manchester, Gray was seemingly the only player producing with a day high 13 kills. For Spencer, she had a career day with over 20 kills. Against Calumet, Spencer saw herself with a new career high 8 kills.</p>   <p>For Shelby, I was really curious to see how this team operated. On paper, it was quite obvious that this was the [player_tooltip player_id='156343' first='Navea' last='Gauthier'] (Ohio State) show. A player that averages well over 8 kills per set, Gauthier does much more than just put the ball away. Gauthier put away 67 kills on the day, with a 25 kill performance in a sweep over Reese! She then went on to add 40 digs. Shelby seems to be a team that was destined for a deep run behind Gauthier come November, but struggled against some potential foes this weekend. </p>