Buccaneers' big hitters too much for Spring Lake
Fri, Sep 5, 2008 
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BY NATE THOMPSON
nthompson@grandhaventribune.com
Grand Haven coach Aaron Smaka marveled at visiting Spring Lake's defensive scrappiness following their match Thursday at Grand Haven Fieldhouse. It was enough to give the host Buccaneers a serious scare in their third and final match of a quad that also featured Hudsonville Unity Christian and Forest Hills Eastern.
"Is there any ball your team doesn't get a hand on?" he asked Lakers' coach Sarah Bulthuis. "Some of those rallies were amazing."
The Lakers impressed in that area, but Grand Haven's big hitters — including Stacy Kalsbeek, Mindy Marx, Bri Soule and Kristin Woods — proved too much for Spring Lake to handle in the Bucs' 2-1 victory, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20.
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"Teams like Spring Lake, those defensive minded, quick, scrappy teams, those are the teams that give us the most trouble," Smaka said. "Right now, the shorter the rally, the better we are. We have to learn to stop hurting ourselves with silly mistakes during longer rallies, if that isn't obvious."
It was painfully obvious for the Bucs in a Game 1 loss to the Lakers, a game that featured 11 Grand Haven hitting errors. Spring Lake wasted little time asserting itself, grabbing a 9-1 lead before the Bucs woke up, but it was far too late.
"It was really bad," said Grand Haven's 6-foot-1 junior outside hitter Mindy Marx, who used her tremendous leaping ability to lead the Bucs with 22 kills and 11 blocks. "We weren't hustling around the floor and we weren't consistent with our hitting.
"It's been like a roller coaster this season, but normally our hitting is better."
Spring Lake held tight with the Bucs throughout most of Game 2, but senior outside hitter Soule gave Grand Haven a spark in the clutch. She tallied a solo block to give Grand Haven a 20-18 lead, teamed with Woods on a double block for point No. 21, and then ended the game with a big kill between the Lakers' double block. Soule finished the trio of matches with six blocks, 17 digs, 14 kills and four aces.
"They're just loaded with hitters, which forced us to play good defense throughout," Bulthuis said. "They picked on some of our holes on the floor. We weren't picking up their hits as well, there was a hole in our block here and there, and they caught us out of position a time or two. It just wasn't one thing — it was a couple little things that hurt us."
Still, Bulthuis jumped out of her chair in celebration early in Game 3, when the Lakers blocked away three straight kill attempts from the Bucs during a tremendous volley that ended in a Lakers' point. But too many big hits from Kalsbeek and Marx in the closing stretch closed out the Lakers.
"This team has a lot of strengths, a lot of strong hitters," Smaka said. "I think some times they're just trying too hard. They need to realize they don't have to win every point on one swing. They don't need to bomb every hit."
The 5-10 Kalsbeek totaled 36 assists, eight aces, 17 kills and six blocks, and Robyn Power led the team with 29 digs. Woods, a 5-11 middle block, chipped in with 11 kills.
The Bucs split their other two matches. Smaka said the team was "uninspired" during a 25-23, 25-18 loss to Unity Christian, but they picked up the intensity in a 25-20, 29-27 win over Forest Hills Eastern.
Spring Lake (12-7-3 overall) ended its evening winless, falling earlier to Forest Hills Eastern (25-19, 25-19) and Unity Christian (25-15, 25-19).
Katelyn Schram had a strong evening with 16 kills, seven blocks, 13 points and six aces. Tiffany Holmes totaled 36 assists, 18 points, six aces, and 16 digs, and Taylor Keyser was tops in digs with 35.
Bulthuis said hanging tough against quality competition will only help the Lakers in the long run.
"We took a game against Fruitport earlier this week and we took a game against Grand Haven," Bulthuis said. "I think that gives us a lot of confidence because those are a couple good teams. We proved we can play with them and that we're a good team, too."
JUNIOR VARSITY: Grand Haven swept its three matches at Unity Christian Thursday, beating Spring Lake (25-18, 25-12), Unity Christian (25-16, 25-16) and Forest Hills Eastern (25-16, 24-26, 15-12). Kyle Cannon played well for Grand Haven (7-1) with 20 points, seven aces and 32 digs. Lindsey Burnside finished with 12 points, 25 kills and six blocks.
The Lakers went 1-2, falling to the Bucs and Unity Christian (25-13, 23-25, 15-13) while beating Eastern (8-25, 25-18, 15-11). Jackie Wruble led the Lakers (9-3-2) with nine aces, 12 kills and 11 blocks. Elizabeth McLaughlin had 14 digs, and Mary Hamati added four aces.
FRESHMEN: Grand Haven went 1-2 at Spring Lake Thursday, beating Unity Christian (25-23, 13-25, 15-10) while losing to Eastern (25-13, 25-16) and the Lakers (21-25, 25-22, 17-16).
