No. 2 Mendon claims volleyball district crown in ranked battle
MENDON — Thursday's district volleyball finals in Mendon featured a pair of Top 10 teams in Division 4.
Mendon came into the contest ranked second overall, Colon was ranked eighth. The host Hornets won that battle over visiting Colon in three sets at 25-9, 25-19 and 25-21.
"We definitely want to be pushed, we can only learn from what we struggle with, so it's good to see what we need," Mendon coach Kenny Herbert said. "We came out firing, we started strong and we never let up, even when we got down."
Colon ends the season at 29-16-5. It's the most wins the team has produced under coach Michelle Walkinhood, this year co-coaching with Brianna Vinson.
"I'm really proud of the girls for how they played, we have four amazing seniors and they showed up, we just couldn't quite keep up with Mendon tonight," Walkinhood said. "They would go on runs and we could not make it up, that's where they got us."
Outside of the opening set, where Colon scored only nine points, the Lady Magi played close with the Hornets.
"There were moments when they (Colon) got back into the game, but we were able to finish each set and handle our business," Herbert said.
Mendon senior Makennah Mullin said she was proud of her team for picking up the win.
"I love being a part of this team, I love the team itself and tonight's atmosphere was great," she said. "It's pretty nice to win, considering we did it on our home court."
Mendon moves on to the Regional 29 hosted by Athens next Tuesday. The Lady Hornets will play the winner of St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake and Three Oaks River Valley, that match will be played on Friday evening. The Lady Hornets and the winner of that district are set to square off in the opening game of the regional. Marcellus Howardsville Christian will play Martin in the second game.
The winners will then play in Athens on Thursday in the regional finals.
Mendon won't have far to go, getting to Athens, but Herbert said his team relished playing in front of their home crowd as well on Thursday.
"We love playing at home, we love that energy the crowd brings," he said. "I think this team fuels off that energy."
Gracie Schultz led the Mendon offense with 14 kills, she added 15 digs and three aces as well while Mullin totaled eight kills, five digs and two blocks. Alicyn Arevalo recorded five kills and six blocks, Brianna Heitkamp had one kill and two digs.
Cienna Nightingale added five kills with 12 digs in the match, Jadyn Samson totaled 21 digs with two assists and two aces. Lila Schinker recorded 19 digs, Brooke Gerth finished with one ace and two digs.
Kayla Wenzel passed out 29 assists with 15 digs and two aces.
Colon got eight kills and three blocks from Macey Burgess. Megann Mullins added six kills with nine digs and Liv Johnson totaled 10 digs and one kill.
Reese Williams handed out 10 assists with six digs and two aces.
"I think we need to improve on some things, we had some hitting errors, but I think we can get that cleaned up and continue to get better," Mullin said. "I'm looking forward to continue to lead my team."
Mendon has been ranked inside the Top 10 all season. The Hornets are just fine with being ranked second overall, but they are also not focusing on it at all.
"It's one game at a time at this point, you're playing until you lose and focusing on your opponent," Herbert said. "Nothing else matters."
Three Rivers ends season
The Three Rivers volleyball team fell to Edwardsburg in four sets on Thursday.
The loss came int he district finals at 25-21, 19-25, 21-25 and 25-27. Three Rivers ends the season at 41-10-2.
In the defeat, Miley Southland handed out her 2,000th career assist. She finished with 43 on the evening with four blocks and three kills.
Jenna Southland led with 20 kills, 14 digs and four blocks while Arabella Mangold totaled 14 kills with 15 digs and six blocks. Allie McGlothlen added eight kills with 11 digs and four blocks, Aliza Munro added 21 digs while Maddie O'Hara scored four kills with three blocks, Lanie Glass scored three kills and three digs.
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: No. 2 Mendon claims volleyball district crown in ranked battle with No. 8 Colon
