Bloomfield Hills falls in districts
WATERFORD » When the going gets tough, you have to turn to your leaders.
West Bloomfield senior Grace Allread is usually setting up her teammates for kills as the Lakers’ setter, but coach Lauren Deluyck-Forbes knew she needed to give Allread the green light on Monday.
Trailing Bloomfield Hills in the fifth set of their Division 1 district volleyball match at Waterford Mott High School, 11-10, Allread took over the game, recording three kills over the Lakers’ final five points to push West Bloomfield to a 15-13 victory.
“I have so much trust in that kid,” Deluyck-Forbes said of Allread. “She just runs everything so well. I know she will close when I need her to. If she sees an opening, she is going to get the point.”
Allread tied up the set at 1111 and then recorded the final two Laker points to give West Bloomfield a hard-fought 25-20, 19-25, 25-23, 13-25, 15-13 win.
“Coach told me to just take it if it was there, so I went for it,” Allread, who is committed to play at Liberty next fall, said. “As a setter I really enjoy setting up my hitters, but I knew I had to be aggressive at the end of the match.”
The win for the Lakers (922) was big for a team that has played a very competitive OAA Red schedule. West Bloomfield had lost to Bloomfield Hills twice during the season, dropping five of the six sets they played against one another.
“We were hungry for that win,” Deluyck-Forbes said. “We have been beaten by Bloomfield Hills twice this year, so this was a big confidence booster for us going forward in the district. This was the best match we have played all season.”
The Lakers showed a lot of grit during the match. They trailed 16-11 in the first set before rallying to score 14 of the next 18 points and win 25-20.
Bloomfield Hills would answer in the second set as they started out with a 6- 0 lead on the serve of Hannah Teer. Libero Clair Schihl would also give the Lakers problems with her serve as the Black Hawks evened the match with a 25-19 victory.
The third set was similar to the first as West Bloomfield would go on a 7- 0 run to turn a 16-12 deficit into a 19-16 lead. Allread would finish the set with a kill off the net that just dropped to the floor.
“We struggled to finish games and West Bloomfield took advantage,” Bloomfield Hills coach Larry Wyatt said. “We were very good at times, but not enough to overcome the unforced errors.”
The Black Hawks would respond again in the fourth, producing the most lopsided set of
the match. Bloomfield Hills serving led to a big run early and a 25-13 victory.
Following the fourth, the Lakers showed no signs of being impacted entering the fifth.
“It was really important for them to understand that (the fourth set) didn’t matter,” Deluyck-Forbes said. “We were back to zero going into the fifth set and that’s where our focus had to be. They just needed to have confidence in themselves and have a mental reset from the fourth set.”
The fifth set would be tied nine different times as both sides made standout plays. In the end, the defensive effort of West Bloomfield, led by libero Juliana Davis and outside hitter Kate Horvath, allowed Allread to run the offense and finish points.
“One of the strongest parts of our team is our defense. They are bulletproof for the most part,” DeluyckForbes said. “We run a rotational defense, so we have them set up really nicely around our sealed block. Overall, our defense killed it (Monday).”
Horvath finished with 20 kills to lead the Lakers in the win. They will now face Pontiac in a district semifinal match on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. from Mott High School.
Lauren Chioini and Ashlea Nwabueze were standouts for Bloomfield Hills, along with outside hitters Madee Tarrance and Ava Petrucci.
“One of the strongest parts of our team is our defense.”
— Lauren Deluyck-Forbes, Bloomfield Hills coach