J-L volleyball took 3rd place at the Forest Area Tournament on Saturday. They close out the regular season with an overall 22-18-11 record and a 3rd place finish in the Ski Valley Conference with a 5-3 record. OVERALL STAT LEADERS:
Serving: Tiffany Nickert 25 pts, Chelsea Lemcool 24 and Abby Schlicher 22. Aces: Tiffany Nickert 14 and Brittany Cherwinski 8. Kills: Brittany Cherwinski 17, Abby Schlicher and Hannah Huff 16 and Tiffany Nickert 14. Assists: Chelsea Lemcool 31 and Julia Nieman 25. Digs: Abby Schlicher 34, Meghan Makranyi and Brittany Cherwinski 24.
Congratulations to the Varsity volleyball team on a 3rd place finish at the Bellaire Tournament on Saturday. Team serving leaders were Tiffany Nickert- 26 pts, Abby Schlicher- 14 pts and Hannah Huff-15 pts. Tiffany Nickert led hitters with 21 kills, Abby Schlicher-18, Hannah Huff 17. Chelsea Lemcool led with 32 assists, Julia Nieman- 27. Top passers were Abby Schlicher with 27 digs, Brittany Cherwinski- 22, Meghan Makranyi-20.
Back to Top
Cards spike Mancelona, eye district title
By Matt Wenzel, Staff Writer ~ Gaylord Herald Times
The Johannesburg-Lewiston (J-L) Lady Cards brought out their heavy hitters in Tuesday night volleyball action, defeating Mancelona in straight games (25-19, 25-15, 25-13).
“The last two weeks our communication has improved,” said J-L coach Kristine Peppin. “This was our best overall game of the season so far.”
Coach Peppin had reason to be pleased. T
he Cardinals utilized fast starts in all three games to keep their distance from the Lady Ironmen.
“Mancelona had difficulty receiving our serves,” Peppin said. “That gave us lots of opportunities to set up our offense.”
Fast starts begin with serving and J-L junior Tiffany Nickert was the ace on the back line, with a combined 17 points while serving on the night.
“Tiffany had a great night serving for us,” exclaimed Peppin.
The first game was the closest-matched contest of the evening, with Mancelona battling within five points of the Cardinals.
But the constant communication among the J-L players helped extend them to a 17-10 lead before moving onto the victory (25-19).
Game two and three were never in doubt. The Cardinals jumped out to a 14-3 and 9-1 lead in each. Setting up their offense on every possession, J-L limited hitting errors while adding assist after assist. Chelsea Lemcool led the team with 10 helpers followed by Julia Nieman with six.
Leading the team in digs was Abby Schlicher with 14, Meghan Makranyi had 11, Nickert came in with 10 and Brittany Cherwinski had nine.
“This team has had its ups and downs on the season,” said Peppin. “The last two weeks they have started to put it together. We have strong hitters all around and a good rotation.”
The victory avenged a Sept. 15 loss the Cardinals suffered to the Lady Ironmen.
The success comes at a good time with less than two weeks to go until the District tournament begins. On Thursday the J-L roll came to an end at the hands of the Ski
Valley Conference-leading Pellston.
The Hornets squeaked out the victory on Parent’s Night in Johannesburg (21-25, 18-25, 18-25). “We traded points back and forth the first two games but just lost our momentum in the third game,” said Peppin.
Serving leader on the night was Cherwinski with 10 points. Schlicher and Katelyn Weaver each had six kills. Lemcool was the assist leader with 10.
Schlicher led the team with 16 digs and Makranyi was next with 10.
The Cardinals (4-3 Ski Valley) close out the conference season Tuesday at Bellaire.
Back to Top
J-L goes distance to win huge volleyball battle in Onaway
Gaylord Herald Times
ONAWAY — The Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team earned one of its biggest wins of the year, downing Onaway in five games Tuesday.
J-L (4-2 Ski Valley Conference) fell 7-25 in the first game, but rebounded to win 25-23 in the second. After dropping the third 20-25, the Cardinals bounced back to win the final two games, 25-15 and 15-10.
In the second game, Tiffany Nickert and Brittany Cherwinski set the tone for the rest of the evening with four kills in a row.
Abby Schlicher also collected seven of her game-high 15 kills in that game, including a few well-placed hits that had Onaway on its heels. Nickert was nearly perfect from the serving line, hitting on 17-of-18 and putting the Cardinals ahead for good with a six-point serving run.
J-L jumped out to an early 8-1 lead in the third game, but a 12-0 run by Onaway put the Cardinals in the driver’s seat. Hannah Huff and Nickert each served four-straight points for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals dominated the fourth game from start to finish as Cherwinski and Schlicher each had four kills. After trading points early in the fifth and deciding game, Meghan Makranyi stepped up and came up with some huge digs when it mattered most, as well as a four-point serving run.
Overall, Schlicher had 15 kills, Nickert had 10 and Cherwinski had nine, while Cherwinski, Huff, Makranyi, Schlicher and Chelsea Lemcool were digs leaders. Lemcool added 20 assists while Julia Nieman tossed up nine.
As a team, J-L served at 92 percent. Katelyn Weaver, Huff and Nieman all were at 100 percent, while Lemcool and Makranyi were at 93 percent and Nickert was at 91 percent.
The Cardinals also placed fourth at its home invitational Saturday.
J-L finished 1-2-2 on the day, defeating Mancelona (21-18, 21-13), splitting with Mio (17-21, 22-20) and Forest Area (11-21, 21-19) and falling to Onaway (13-21, 16-21) and Central Lake (19-21, 19-21).
“We had a day of ups and downs,” said J-L coach Kristine Peppin. “We started off very slow with several losses in a row, but the girls bounced back with some great energy.”
The highlight of the day was when the Cardinals handed first-place Forest Area its only loss of the day. Schlicher had four of her team-high 18 kills in that match.
J-L also had a strong showing against the third-place Mio team. Cherwinski served up five consecutive points in the comeback
victory.
Schlicher also had 12 of her team-high 39 digs vs. Mio.
Cherwinski led the way with 28 service points, while serving at a solid 93 percent clip. Huff and Becky Michael both served at 100 percent, while Lemcool was at 96 percent and Schlicher was at 92 percent.
Huff and Nickert each added 15 kills while Cherwinski chipped in 11. Lemcool tossed up 41 assists, while Schlicher, Cherwinski, Lemcool, Makranyi and Huff all had more than 20 digs
JUNIOR VARSITY
ONAWAY — Johannesburg-Lewiston lost at Onaway in three games Tuesday, 21-25,
16-25 and 6-15. Erin Kortman had four aces and 100 percent serving, while Abbie May had 100 percent serving and four assists. Raynie Hummel had four kills, Ashley Rider provided excellent passing.
Back to Top
J-L wins in Ski Valley showdown
Gaylord Herald Times
CENTRAL LAKE — The Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball squad is now above .500 in league play following a 25-16, 26-24 and 25-21 victory at Central Lake last week.
The combination of Tiffany Nickert and Brittany Cherwinski gave the Trojans fits, combining for 22 of the Cardinal’s 34 kills.
Game one had the tone set quickly, with Cherwinski serving nine straight points on the way to a 13-4 J-L lead. Central Lake never recovered.
“Both Chelsea Lemcool and Julia Nieman did a nice job of setting up our hitters,” said J-L coach Kristine Peppin. “It was helped by good passing all evening and that translated into lots of offensive opportunities for us.”
In the second game, the Trojans proved they would not be pushed around all evening, forcing extra points in a back-and-forth battle.
Eventually, the Cardinals capitalized on a hitting error, and senior Meghan Makranyi served for the last point. Abby Schlicher got the last kill in the third game.
Back to Top
Volleyball: J-L wins, loses in SVC
Gaylord Herald Times
JOHANNESBURG — It was a week of up and downs for the Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team. The Cardinals started things out strong Tuesday, knocking off Inland Lakes in three straight games, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-20.
That momentum could not be sustained, however, in a three-game loss to Forest Area Thursday (20-25, 14-25 and 11-25).
Coach Kristine Peppin was happy with the Inland Lakes match. “It was our best match of the season,” she said. “We really minimized errors and took advantage of offensive opportunities. The girls put up some great numbers and a lot of girls got to play and contribute.”
Achieving 100 percent serving was Meghan Makranyi, Chelsea Lemcool, Hannah Huff, Becky Michael and Hailey Weaver. Julia Nieman was the top scoring server with 11 points. Huff led with 13 kills, while Brittany Cherwinski added eight, Abby Schlicher six and Katelyn Weaver four. Nieman’s 21 assists were a team-high as was Lemcool’s seven digs.
It wasn’t so positive in the Forest Area match.
“It was ugly volleyball,” Peppin said. “This wasn’t the same team as Tuesday. We had a ton of hitting errors, bad passes, serving errors at critical times and just plain old silly mistakes.”
Tiffany Nickert and Huff each posted five kills for the Cardinals while Makranyi and Schlicher each had 17 digs. Nieman had nine assists, while Schlicher and Nickert both served up five points. J-L is now 2-2 in the Ski Valley Conference and will gear up for its home invitational Saturday.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Cardinals sweep Bulldogs, Warriors
JOHANNESBURG — The J-L junior varsity team made short work of both Inland Lakes (25-23, 25-21 and 11-15) and Forest Area (25-22, 27-25 and 15-13) last week. Against Inland Lakes, Raynie Hummel had three kills and five aces, and Ashley Courterier had three kills and 100 percent serving. Against the Warriors, Erin Kortman and Miranda Kortman both had four aces, while Courterier had five kills and 100 percent serving. Abby May added 100 percent serving and 10 assists.
Back to Top
Hitting errors hurt Cardinals in Ski Valley volleyball loss
Gaylord Herald Times
MANCELONA — The Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team fell to 1-1 in the Ski Valley Conference Thursday with a 16-25, 22-25, 25-9 and 16-25 loss to Mancelona.
“We only showed up to play in one of the four games,” said J-L coach Kristine Peppin. “We had lots of long rallies that ended in Mancelona’s favor. Little mistakes caught up with us, and we had too many hitting errors. We had lots of chances on offense, but just couldn’t capitalize.
In games one and two, t
he Cardinals were hitting hard, but right at people. The Lady Ironmen took advantage of J-L’s hitting errors and dug up everything the Cardinals hit at them.
Game three was J-L’s best showing of the night. Brittany Cherwinski had 11 of her team-high 16 serving points in that game, including five aces.
In game four, Abby Schlicher had four kills in a row to provide a last-minute spark, but the Cards were too far down at the point to stage a comeback.
Serving above 90 percent for J-L (10-7-2 overall) was Julia Nieman (100 percent), Cherwinski (92 percent) Meghan Makranyi (92 percent), Hannah Huff (91 percent) and Tiffany Nickert (90 percent).
Schlicher led with 10 kills, while Nickert had seven and Huff six. Schlicher also led with 23 digs, while Nieman tossed up 15 assists.
Back to Top
J-L volleyball team fares well against tough competition
Gaylord Herald Times
MIDLAND — The Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team went toe-to-toe with some excellent competition over the weekend and stood tall against it.
Th
e Cardinals took fifth place at the 14-team Northwood University
Invitational Saturday. The list of impressive competition included Midland Dow, Morley-Stanwood, Frankenmuth, Saginaw Valley Lutheran, Gaylord, Riverview, Otisville-Lakevill, Freeland, Midland Bullock Creek, Harrison, Reese, Ithaca and Lansing Christian.
The Cardinals finished 5-1 in pool play, tying them with Gaylord. J-L defeated Ithaca (25-19, 25-22), Lansing Christian (25-22, 25-20) and split with Gaylord (18-25, 25-18). The Cardinals advanced to bracket play against Class B Frankenmuth, and lost 8-25 and 20-25.
“It was excellent to play teams from bigger schools than us,” said J-L coach Kristine Peppin. “The girls got a lot out of our first game with Frankenmuth. After being out hustled and getting over nerves, we ran our offense much better in the second game. Overall, it was a solid day.”
J-L served at 90 percent for the day, while setters Julia Nieman (33 assists) and Chelsea Lemcool (31 assists) did a strong job of placing the sets right where the hitters wanted them, Peppin said.
Tiffany Nickert, Brittany Cherwinski, Hannah Huff and Meghan Makranyi all served over 90 percent, while Abby Schlicher and Lemcool were other top scorers.
Nickert led the way with 20 kills, while Huff had 17, Cherwinski 14, Schlicher 13 and Katelyn Weaver 13.
Makranyi led the way with 37 digs, while Schlicher had 30.
JUNIOR VARSITY
INDIAN RIVER — The J-L junior varsity volleyball team placed fifth at the Inland Lakes Invitational Saturday.
Abby May had 48 assists and nine aces, while Ashley Courterier had 26 hits and Hailey Weaver had 16 hits and six aces. Gracie Kierczynski served at 92 percent, while Ashley Rider showed excellent passing.
That followed up a 25-23, 25-18 and 13-15 victory against rival St. Mary last week. Raynie Hummel and Courterier were top hitters, while Erin Kortman and Weaver both served at 100 percent. May chipped in 13 assists, while Haylie Haase added 10 assists.
Back to Top
Johannesburg-Lewiston Area Schools
Lady Cards Varsity Volleyball 2011
# Name ~ Grade
#0 Meghan Makranyi ~ 12th
#1 Abby Schlicher ~ 11th
#2 Julia Nieman ~ 10th
#4 Tiffany Nickert ~ 11th
#5 Chelsea Lemcool ~ 12th
#9 Brittany Cherwinski ~ 10th
#10 Hannah Huff ~ 11th
#12 Becky Michael ~ 11th
#13 Katelyn Weaver ~ 11th
Coach: Kristine Peppin
Assistant Coach: Mark Peppin
Manager: Chloe Lemcool
Back to Top
Lady Cards JV Volleyball
2011
# Name ~ Grade
#1 Carrie Keys ~ 9th
#2 Erin Kortman ~ 10th
#3 Hailey Weaver ~ 10th
#4 Miranda Kortman ~ 10th
#5 Abby May ~ 10th
#6 Rayanna Hummel ~ 10th
#7 Ashley Courterier ~ 10th
#8 Amber Agee ~ 9th
#9 Ashley Rider ~ 9th
#10 Gracie Kierczynski ~ 9th
#11 Haylie Haase ~ 9th
#12 Sydney Willauer ~ 9th
#13 Stephanie Persyn ~ 9th
14 Alena Cassisi 10
Coach: Liz Thick
Manager: Kelsey Kotimaki
Back to Top
J-L gets past Snowbirds in SVC volleyball opener
By Matt Wenzel, Staff Writer
JOHANNESBURG — For first-year St. Mary coach Becky Masko,
Tuesday was baptism by fire.
Masko got her first taste of the rivalry between her Snowbirds and Johannesburg-Lewiston on the first night of the Ski Valley Conference season. The Cardinals
were Class C District champs last year and expected to be a top-tier team.
For J-L coach Kristine Peppin, the night was a setup for an upset. J-L was fresh off a nine-day break between matches and there was a looming temptation to overlook the Snowbirds, with the Cardinals on their way to a big-time tournament this weekend in Midland.
Although the upset did not happen, the match was much closer than the Cardinals’ victory in straight sets (25-14, 25-22, 25-16) would appear.
“We felt the kinks,” said Peppin. “At times we played inspired ball, but other times we would let the ball drop in between us.”
Game one was a back and forth battle with the Snowbirds fighting out to an early 8-7 lead before junior Katelyn Weaver took the serve
for J-L.
Weaver drove the Cardinals ahead with three aces, beginning a 10-3 point run. St. Mary would not recover and J-L took the first game
25-14.
At the onset of the second game, the Snowbirds sprinted out to an 8-0 lead on the serve of sophomore Caylee Lawnichak, forcing a Cardinal timeout.
After trading a couple of serves, J-L and Weaver struck again with nine consecutive points to take a 12-10 lead. The two teams battled for each remaining point, eventually coming down to a 22-21 J-L lead before the Cardinals put it away 25-22.
Weaver ended the evening with 16 serving points, four aces, five kills and nine digs on defense. “I felt we came on strong at the beginning of each match but just couldn’t hold on,” Masko said. “We were definitely out hit tonight by J-L, but we will continue to build our hitting strength, and we will do nothing but get stronger as a team.”
The final game started much like the second with St. Mary jumping out to an 11-5 lead with serving points from Maggie Cosgrove and CiCi Becker.
Another well-placed timeout by the Cardinals was followed by a 20-5 run, ending the game and match.
“St. Mary gave us many opportunities to work on our offense — setting up plays and working on putting the ball down for a kill,” Peppin said. “It was a very balanced scoring effort, and I was pleased to have three girls in double digits for kills.”
Leaders for J-L (8-5-1, 1-0 SVC) on the day were Abby Schlicher, Brittany Cherwinski and Hannah Huff with 10 kills each; Chelsea Lemcool with 19 assists; and Schlicher with 20 digs.
“We went into the (third) match strong, determined to take a win from J-L but we just couldn’t get the ball set up as much as we needed to,” Masko said. “J-L was hitting strong all night and we were just focusing on trying to play a strong defense to get the serve back.”
Lead contributors for the Snowbirds (0-1) were Lawnichak with 13 points serving and Emily Butcher with six points, four blocks, two digs and two kills. Others making important contributions were Ellyn Milan, Emily Reppuhn, Maggie Cosgrove, Katie LeBlanc and Sarah Long.
Back to Top
Mancelona Ironman Invitational
By Kristine Peppin
On August 27th, the Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team traveled to Mancelona for an invitational. J-L defeated Alanson 3-0 (25-14,25-16, 25-12), but lost to Mancelona 2-1 (23-25, 25-19, 21-25) and Bellaire 2-1 (25-21, 13-25, 21-25).
This was a disappointing game. Two days prior, we played even with TC West, but in Mancelona we didn't play nearly our best. It was quite a letdown! We were actually only one set win from making it to the finals, but I felt our level of play was very poor and we didn't deserve to make it there. We were missing a few players and girls had to play some different positions, but that is no excuse. We just didn't get it done.
Bright spots on the day were as follows. Brittany Cherwinski was selected to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts on the day. Most notable was her powerful jump serving, where she collected 24 points and 9 aces, while serving at a 91% rate. She added 12 kills and 21 digs.
Stats:
*Serving: Cherwinski 24 points/9
*Aces: (91%), Makranyi 17 points/3 aces (100%), Nickert 16 points/7 aces, Michael 14 points/ 3 aces (94%), Schlicher 12 points/6 aces, Lemcool 11 points/ 2 aces, H. Weaver 8 points/1 ace (93%).
*Kills: Schlicher 20, Nickert 16, Cherwinski 12, K. Weaver 9
Assists: Lemcool 44
Digs: Schlicher 29, Cherwinski 12, Lemcool 14, Nickert 13
Back to Top
J-L varsity competes at Mount Pleasant, Mancy
MOUNT PLEASANT — The Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team held its ground among larger schools at the “Heat on the Hardwood” invitational in Mount Pleasant Thursday.
In pool play, J-L defeated Fowler (25-23, 25-21), split with St. Charles (17-25, 25-15) and lost to Beal City (15-25, 16-25).
Earning second place in pool play led the Cardinals into a semifinals bout with No. 1 seed Traverse City West, who defeated J-L 11-25 and 22-25.
After taking a 7-1 lead thanks to good serving by Brittany Cherwinski, West would come back and the two teams played tight until a 22-22 tie was broken with three straight points by the Titans.
The good play earned the Cardinals a third-place finish.
Outstanding performances on the day were Tiffany Nickert ,who led the team in serving points (20), aces (nine), kills (13), digs and blocks (four).
Results from Saturday’s invitational in Mancelona were not as favorable. With a short-handed squad, the Cardinals defeated Alanson (25-14, 25-16, 25-12), before dropping games to Mancelona and Bellaire.
Cherwinski was selected to the All-Tournament team with 24 points and nine aces during serves. She also had 12 kills and 21 digs.
Cardinal JV volleyball go 4-2 in tourney
MOUNT PLEASANT — The Johannesburg-Lewiston junior varsity volleyball team recently played in the Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart Invitational and placed second in its pool.
The Cardinals went 4-2, defeating Tawas Area (25-20, 25-8), Burton Bendle (25-22, 25-10) and falling to Mount Pleasant (5-25, 16-25).
They advanced to bracket play where they faced Traverse City West, but fell after some exciting matches.
The team’s serving was at 91 percent. Top players were Hailey Weaver (14 hits, six aces, three blocks), Abby May (22 assists at setter), Ashley Courterier (10 hits, five blocks) and Miranda Kortman (seven aces, two blocks). Gracie Kierczynski was the leading server at 95 percent.
The team then went to the Mancelona Invitational last Saturday and played against Ski Valley Conference foes Bellaire, Central Lake, Onaway and Mancelona.
May, who had 29 assists and four aces, was named the tournament’s MVP. Other top performers were Courterier (14 hits, six blocks), Raynie Hummel (nine hits) and Kortman (six hits). Freshmen Haylie Haase, Amber Agee and Stephanie Persyn did an excellent job at the serving stripe. Also, Carrie Keys and Ashley Rider did well defensively.
Back to Top
J-L poised to capture another District title
By Matt Wenzel, Staff Writer
Petoskey News
JOHANNESBURG — One title is a good season, two titles in a row is a rare accomplishment, three District titles is the beginning of a dynasty.
That is what Johannesburg-Lewiston coach Kristine Peppin and her Cardinals will be gunning for this year.
“Our first goal is always to win Districts,” she said. “We also are striving to win a Regional title this year. We went to the Regional Finals in 2009 and the Semifinals in 2010, so we are hoping to bring home that trophy this year.”
Peppin has led the Cardinals to a 72-33-15 overall record during her two seasons as head coach. In 2009, the team won the school’s first District championship since 1989.
Last year, after graduating several members from the 2009 team, Peppin rallied her youth to make it two District trophies in a row.
With only two seniors, J-L is in the unique situation of having both youth and experience. Six returning players include seniors Meghan Makranyi and Chelsea Lemcool, juniors Abby Schlicher, Hannah Huff and Tiffany Nickert and sophomore Brittany Cherwinski.
“I have a lot of girls returning with varsity experience, so I expect a balanced effort all-around,” Peppin said. “I look for big things from junior Abby Schlicher, who will be our go-to player at the outside hitter position. Junior Hannah Huff also brings great consistency to the middle hitter position, especially in her hitting and serving.”
On her two seniors, Peppin commented, “Both girls are very vocal on the court, and I expect they will help the games run smoothly. They both are very calm on the court and bring lots of experience.”
The Ski Valley conference will bring challenges to the Lady Cards, as usual. Normal powerhouse programs Pellston and Forest Area will be tests for J-L.
“We would love to win the Ski Valley Conference,” said Peppin. “Pellston and Forest Area will be our biggest challenges, so I hope the girls are up to the task, but we have a great shot to be in the top two or three in the league.”
The team began the season on the right track, finishing second at a six-team tournament in Houghton Lake and third place at a Mount Pleasant tournament. Both featured some stiff competition.
Cards have strong showing at Houghton Lake
HOUGHTON LAKE — The Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball team finished as the runner-up at the Houghton Lake Early Bird Tournament last week.
The Cardinals were a perfect 10-0 in pool play before a 2-1 loss to Beaverton in the finals.
After dropping the first set, J-L dominated the second, winning 25-17.
Abby Schlicher was the key performer in the final, recording 12 of her team-high 33 kills in the final match.
In the deciding set, errors caught up to the Cardinals, and they lost 15-7.
“We had many moments of inspired play throughout the day and I was especially pleased with our offensive numbers — we had five girls in double digits with kills for the day,” said J-L coach Kristine Peppin.
In pool play, J-L defeated the Houghton Lake JV (25-16, 25-8), Harrison (25-19, 25-22), Houghton Lake (25-17, 25-19), Beaverton (25-21, 25-21) and Whittemore-Prescott (25-16, 25-9).
Hannah Huff added 28 kills, Brittany Cherwinski 24, Tiffany Nickert 23 and Katelyn Weaver 11 for the Cardinals, while sophomore setter Julia Nieman had a strong day with 55 assists.
Cherwinski turned in 15 aces and 47 service points, while Huff led the way with 60 digs and four blocks.
The Cardinals also competed in the highly competitive Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart Invitational Thursday and took third place. More details will be available in Wednesday’s edition of the Herald Times.
Back to Top
