Local Sports: Young Airport volleyball team keeps The Jug at home
FLAT ROCK – Airport has one of the youngest volleyball teams in the state.
But the Jets are not too young know what’s important.
They kept The Jug at home by beating Flat Rock 25-16, 25-20, 25-21 Wednesday.
“They knew about The Jug and what it means,” Miller said. “They were pumped up to keep it.”
The Jug is a trophy for volleyball and girls basketball at the two schools. The winner of the head-to-head matchup gets to keep it until the next matchup.
There is only one regular-season volleyball clash scheduled this year, so Airport likely will keep The Jug until girls basketball season.
What happens if Airport and Flat Rock play in the Huron League volleyball tournament?
“I don’t know about that,” Miller said. “I would have to meet with Makenzie (Kaiser, Flat Rock’s coach) and see what happens.”
But Miller does know that her young squad, which features five freshmen, including four who start, delivered one of its best efforts of the season.
“We keep telling them that it’s a process and they have to trust the process,” Miller said. “We tell them, ‘Take it slow, play as a team and do what you can. If you do that, you will make it happen.’ … It’s been very rewarding so far. Every time we are in the gym practicing, they are picking things up.”
Joelle Shrewsbury (5 kills, 13 assists), Jade Mittendorf (15 digs), Savannah Barkley (7 kills), Renee Shrewsbury (5 kills) and Peyton Zajac (8 assists) were Airport’s leaders Wednesday.
PREP VOLLEYBALL
Slack dishes out assists
GROSSE ILE – Madison Slack dished out 24 assists as Milan dispatched Grosse Ile 25-12, 25-20, 25-18 Wednesday.
“Grosse Ile has a good team and started out blocking us so we needed to change some things and my hitters did a good job adjusting,” Milan coach Kathy Bradshaw said.
Courtney Nye and Sylvia Koch finished with 9 kills each, Mariah Stines logged 3 blocks, and Sylvia had 7 digs as Milan moved to 5-2-2 overall and 2-0 in the Huron League.
Kestrels fly past Pirates
St. Mary Catholic Central improved to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the Huron League with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-19 win over Riverview Wednesday.
McKenna Payne led SMCC with 13 kills, 3 digs and 2 aces, Jessica Costlow had 12 kills and 4 digs, Mackenzie Niedermeyer recorded 33 assists, Raelyn Turner had 13 digs and 2 aces, and Lauren Conant added 5 kills, 3 digs and a block.
PREP SOCCER
Milan, Huron tie
MILAN – Milan scored a late goal to salvage a 2-2 tie with New Boston Huron Wednesday.
Andy Traster and Jordan Stasak scored for Huron and Brady Fleszar and Landon Julio were credited with assists.
Carter Higgins and Wesley Murphy scored for the Big Reds. Cameron Satterley assisted.
Milan improved to 7-1-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the Huron League.
Rams earn key win
Brady McBride, Reagan Engelbert, Mitchell Smith scored for Flat Rock in a 3-2 win over Jefferson Wednesday.
"Good win for the boys moving forward," Flat Rock coach Sean Sturgeon said. "First Huron League win felt good. The boys needed it after working hard the last few weeks."
Carlson overpowered
WOODHAVEN – Luis Jasso scored twice, but it was not enough for Gibraltar Carlson in a 5-2 loss to Woodhaven Wednesday.
Zack Walder had an assist for the 7-3-1 Marauders.
Airport mercied
RIVERVIEW −Riverview scored the game-winning goal with 11 minutes remaining in the second half in an 8-0 mercy win over Airport Wednesday.
Airport goalkeeper Tayton Ruhlig played well against the state-ranked No. 6 Pirates, stopping 16 shots on goal. Airport dipped to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the Huron League.
"This isn’t a program that accepts moral victories, but tonight we ran into a great team who were clicking in every aspect of the game," Airport coach Goran Cepo said. "We again played nine freshmen and did our best, but physically couldn’t keep up."
PREP TENNIS
Horak-Zoldowski shine
TEMPERANCE – Dylan Horak-Nick Zoldowksi pulled out a dramatic win at No. 4 doubles to provide the decisive point in Bedford’s 5-3 win over Woodhaven Wednesday.
Other Mules points came Noah Kaplan, Jaxon Nejedlik and Vince Cole in the first three singles flights, and the No. 2 double team of Carter Ryan-Taylor Burgermeister.
PREP GOLF
Bears maul Huron
NEWPORT – Callie Calvin shot a medalist round of 43 to lead Jefferson to a 194-253 win over New Boston Huron at Big Al’s Grille and Greens Wednesday.
Rylee Dunn (46), Kayce Maitland (51) and Olivia Peare (54) rounded out the Bear attack. Addison Bozynski and Brooklyn Burke led Huron with 59 and 60, respectively.
Sophomores lead Jets
A pair of sophomores carried the day for Airport as Sophie Bucki shot 51 and Hannah Roof 52 in a 220-257 win over Milan Wednesday at Sandy Creek Golf Course.
Ava Giese added a 56 for the Jets, who improved to 5-7 in the Huron League.
Jules Meads (53) and Rylee Kennedy (59) led Milan.
SMCC tops Flat Rock
St. Mary Catholic Central recorded four of the top five scores to defeat Flat Rock 218-239 Wednesday at Monroe Golf & Country Club.
Gracie Gentry was medalist with a 51, Emily Bellino shot 54, Anna Cuccia 56, and Alaina Wille 57.
Amanda Page carded a 55 for Flat Rock.
CROSS COUNTRY
Butler leads the way
JACKSON – Luke Butler of Monroe was 15th and teammate Kyle Hoffner 17th in the first Southeastern Conference jamboree of the season Wednesday.
Chelsea won the event with 74 points, 7 ahead of Saline. Monroe was eighth with 199 and Bedford 10th with 256.
Aidan Ortiz and Nicholas Balla went 45-46 to lead Bedford.
Viktoria Bloniarz of Monroe was 23rd in the girls race. Bedford’s Rebekah Asselin finished 40th.
Ann Arbor Pioneer (48) was the girls champ with Saline (54) second. Monroe was ninth with 265 and Bedford 10th with 275.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Local Sports: Young Airport volleyball team keeps The Jug at home
