District titles on the line

Published 9:05 pm Friday, November 5, 2010

Brandywine’s Morgan Smallwood (left) and Lanisha Brann block a spike attempt against Watervliet Thursday night in the Class C District Volleyball Tournament semifinals. (Daily Star photo/AMELIO RODRIGUEZ)

Brandywine’s Morgan Smallwood (left) and Lanisha Brann block a spike attempt against Watervliet Thursday night in the Class C District Volleyball Tournament semifinals. (Daily Star photo/AMELIO RODRIGUEZ)

District volleyball championships will be decided today at Niles and Bridgman high schools.

Brandywine will take on the host Bees in the Class C title game at 7 p.m.

The Bobcats defeated Watervliet 3-0 in the semifinals on Thursday to advance to tonight’s title match.

Bridgman defeated Eau Claire 3-1 to earn a spot in the all-Lakeland Conference finale.

Brandywine defeated the Panthers 25-15, 25-15 and 25-14 as Kelsey Prestly collected 24 kills and two aces. The Bobcats also got 11 kills from Lauren Leonard and four blocks from Morgan Smallwood.

Jessy Cooper finished the night with 32 assists and 10 digs. Mackenzie Shelton also had 10 digs.

Bridgman was led by Rachel Stemm’s 11 kills and two blocks. The Bees also got eight kills from McKenzie Rathgeb and four kills each from Alyssa Krynicky and Meg Berndt.

Taylor Ruff had 19 assists and six aces.

Class A

A pair of Big 16 Conference rivals will take to the court this morning to decided the Class A title at Niles High School.

Mattawan, which avenged its loss to Portage Central in the Big 16 Tournament Thursday night with a 25-18, 25-21, 23-25 and 27-25 win over the Mustangs, will face Portage Northern, a 3-1 winner over the host Vikings.

The Wildcats (42-15-1) were led by Allie Haver’s 13 kills and 10 blocks. Mattawan, which was 0-3 against Portage Central heading into the semifinal match, also got 40 assists, 20 digs and four aces from Amanda Mohney.

Host Niles surprised Portage Northern in the opening set of the first semifinal on Thursday, but the Huskies rallied to take the final three sets and a spot in the championship match.

Kayla Morin keyed the comeback as she finished the night with 16 kills, 21 digs, 18 assists and three aces.

Portage Northern also got 11 kills from Ashley Wilson, while Kaylen Humes had three blocks and Katherine Barren 18 assists.

Melyssa Negri also had 21 digs, while Barren had 18 digs and three aces.