High School Volleyball: SMCC, Milan 'stay hungry' for Regionals

Every year before the start of the state playoffs, St. Mary Catholic Central's volleyball team picks a slogan to define the journey.

This year's saying is: "Stay Hungry."

It was easy for the Kestrels to find their focus this season.

"It's something we've talked about all year," SMCC coach Cassie Haut said. "Stay hungry, stay ready to play, stay in our game. It's all about control our controllables, and part of our controllables is the want and the need to play. And we need to stay hungry for more."

The Kestrels aren't just hungry. They're starving.

SMCC advanced to the Division 3 state championship game last season and took the first two sets against Reese with ease. Momentum turned harshly against the Kestrels from there and the team ultimately ended up losing the match in five sets.

Finishing runner-up in the state is a great accomplishment, but it's hard for SMCC to be satisfied when it came so close to capturing its eighth state title and third in a row.

"There's a lot of hunger," SMCC sophomore hitter Jessica Costlow said after the team's three-set sweep of Erie Mason in the District finals Saturday. "We're ready. We came really close last year, second place. We're ready to eat it up this year and win."

The feeling of that loss has not faded.

"We talk about it a lot," Costlow said. "We talk about how we needed to finish that one. I think we're ready."

Winning the 22nd District championship is school history was a good start this past weekend. Now it's time for the next step.

SMCC is one of two schools that will represent the Monroe County Region in this week in Regional tournaments. The Kestrels are chasing their sixth straight Regional title, while Milan hopes to win the first in school history.

"It's one game at a time for us," Haut said. "Now that (Districts) is ended, we'll move on to Regionals."

SMCC, the top-ranked team in the state in Division 3, opens Regional play at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday against Hudson at Adrian Madison. The winner of that semifinal match advances to the final at 6 p.m. Thursday against either No. 7 Plymouth Christian or Riverview Gabriel Richard.

"We don't know much about Hudson," Haut said. "We haven't seen them, but it's exciting to be here and get to move on."

Milan won its first District title last week since 1999. The Big Reds have never won a Regional.

"From the very beginning, our goal was to win a District," Milan coach Kathy Bradshaw said. "But I don't think they even thought what would happen after Districts. Now we have a chance to do more. If we play well and stay on top of things, we can win the Region. We have to have that mindset."

Changing the mindset has been key for Bradshaw in her three years as varsity coach.

"That's something I really had to build when I took over," she said. "We had to help them realize that they're good enough and they can win. We're still building on that."

Milan opens Regionals against a familiar opponent. The Big Reds take on Riverview at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Dearborn Divine Child High School.

Milan defeated Riverview twice during the regular season. The first was a four-set victory on the road and the second meeting a three-set sweep at Milan in the Huron League tournament.

"Riverview is not an easy team to beat," Bradshaw said. "They're good. They're scrappy and well coached. ... There's more at stake now. We already beat them twice, but we have to forget about that. It will be challenging, but I really feel like we can rise to the occasion."

Bradshaw said that Milan drew a lot of energy from its home crowd the last time it faced Riverview.

Those fans have continued to feverently support the team.

"We have a good fanbase," Bradshaw said. "When we played Riverview, our fans were really came out and were cheering. Then they were there again for the District championship. They even traveled to SMCC (for the Huron League title) even though we didn't play well there. We even had a lot of other people that weren't parents or friends at our District. I think we'll travel well to Dearborn."

The winner of tonight's match advances to the Regional final at 6 p.m. Thursday against either Divine Child or Dearborn Heights Annapolis. None of the four teams in the Regional are state ranked.

"Our girls are still on Cloud 9 (from Districts). They're still up there," Bradshaw said. "I'm sure they're going to be full or energy. Hopefully we can build on that and get it done Tuesday."

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: High School Volleyball: St. Mary Catholic Central, Milan 'stay hungry' for Regionals