WHITEHALL — Neither Whitehall nor Montague has had the regular season they hoped for so far, but Tuesday's Pink-Out rivalry contest between the teams delivered the drama, as it so often does. Ultimately the Wildcats staved off a late surge from Whitehall and earned the win, 25-14, 25-17, 19-25, 25-20.
The match featured special uniforms for the Vikings, who hosted several activities to raise money for Hope Scarves during the night.
It appeared for some time that Whitehall (3-20, 0-3 West Michigan Conference Lakes) would push the contest to a decisive fifth game when it took a commanding 9-4 lead early in the fourth, this on the heels of an impressive game three win. However, the Wildcats called timeout and collected themselves, putting the mental skills coach Gretchen Schneider has emphasized all year into action.
"We set our minds to it, is really what it was," Schneider said. "We did a mental reset in our timeout and came back, and they actually did it. That was pretty exciting, to see the stuff that you're working on, even the non-volleyball skills - the skills of teaming up with each other, that positivity along with the mental strengthening we've been doing. I think it all really played a part tonight."
Ella Evans helped boost the 'Cats into the lead with a lengthy serving
run, and Montague forced a Whitehall timeout by extending that lead to
22-15 - an 18-6 scoring run. Whitehall made another push late in game
four, but Montague held it off and secured the win.
The win meant a lot for Montague (6-14-1, 2-1 WMC Lakes), not just in the league standings, where the Wildcats are still hoping to stay in the race for
the top spot, but for the rivalry. The seniors will graduate having
beaten Whitehall in all four of their regular-season conference meetings.
Montague's Reagan Cederquist lines up an attack against Whitehall defender Lou Mulder during Tuesday's match at Whitehall. Montague won, 3-1.
"It's been a huge thing for us all four years, so just being able to do
it the last time together, just as a team having fun, it's a really good
experience," senior libero Gentry Knop said.
Knop has been among the statistical leaders in several categories in many matches this season, and rang up a team-best 36 digs again Tuesday. "She's our senior libero, and she's all over the court," Schneider said of Knop. "There's only one
rotation where she doesn't come on to the court. She's constantly
talking to everybody out there."
The Vikings largely dominated game three, moving into the lead 14-7 early on with a serving run by Clare Westerlund. Montague stormed back to get within a point, 18-17, but Whitehall responded again with its best volleyball of the night. One key point saw Delaney Kramer run all the way into the bench area to keep a ball in play, which resulted in a Viking kill.
"Lots of great plays from my players," Whitehall coach Claire McGrew said. "They took a bit to get their
bearings, but once they found that spot they took it and ran with it. I’m
very proud of them regardless of the outcome."
It was all Montague in game one, as the Wildcats grabbed control and never let go. Game two started out in Whitehall's favor with a 7-4 lead, but an 11-point serving run by Abrielle Tallquist sent the 'Cats into the lead for good.
Montague's struggles in game three and early in game four were emblematic, Schneider said, of the "roller coaster" the team has been on much of the year.
"When we came out in set three, we had gone down the other side of the
roller coaster," Schneider chuckled. "It took a lot to get them mentally back into the game in
game four. We struggled at the beginning of game four, but eventually
we got there."
The Wildcats' next conference matchup will be next Tuesday at Ludington, a match that will hold extra significance. Not only is Ludington still unbeaten in the conference, but Orioles' first-year coach Alex Hoffman was previously part of the Montague program.
"It's going to be fun," Schneider said. "It's going to be our Pink-Out game. It's going to
be a lot of excitement. I think if we can take this momentum, that is
one of our team goals this year is to take conference."
