BRIGHTON — Novi’s Miss Volleyball contender Sarah Bellucci wants to incorporate her swing while she still can.
At least, if her opponent will forgive her.
With Brighton running a swarm of blockers on the Wildcats’ outside hitters, the 6-footer Bellucci had to use off-speed, cut shots and chips to get the ball past the Bulldogs, but he still made 28. Finished with a kill to beat Novi in 5 sets of Tuesday’s marathon.
Wins 25-22, 25-27, 28-26, 17-25 and 18-16 broke a tie for third in the Kensington Lakes Activity Association early standings, giving the Bulldogs their first league loss and the Wildcats. maintained. It came in first place with its rival, No. 4 Northville.
“It was very close. Very, very close. “I think it’s a little flattering,” said the senior, admitting that blocking attention is at least a little flattering. It’s a hassle.I’m grateful I have a great coach.They helped me get around it.Early on, I was a little blocked.They helped me and my coach said to me, “Hey, you have to get around it.”
She did it and finished with 17 digs.
It also helped that the Wildcats (10-2, 3-0, KLAA West) had other options.
Novi’s other Division I senior, Kaitlyn Hoffman (Ohio), had 20 kills and 20 digs, Sumire Katsumata had 27 digs, and Charlotte Stoy had 25 assists and 24 digs. Elena Rinkel recorded 28 assists and 19 digs.
“The biggest thing about all the players is that we didn’t let anyone play tonight. And you know, rolling off plays was very important. As, it’s very important to be strategic and mix shots to go to another. I think it stagnated, but you know, that’s how 3 out of 5 of us play,” Novi coach Casey Byron said of how big the margin of victory was. pointed out. “Overall, you’re totally right in that being on the wire in some of these games makes a slight difference.”
After racking up 362 kills a season ago, Vellucci entered the senior campaign with 819 kills and 888 digs, but when this season ends, she will collect more of the latter and less of the former. Next level hitter.
Just like her club season, she will play libero when she joins Long Beach State next season.
“Seriously, this is my last RBI, so I think I should make the most of it,” Bellucci says with a laugh, noting how excited she is going into her senior season. “I’m so excited. I’m just so excited to play and it excites me.I haven’t been this excited in a long time.It’s a lot of fun.And I hope you have a great year.I can really ask for That’s all there is to it.”
Half of the ten Miss Volleyball Award finalists are from Oakland County, including Bellucci, Lawless Abraham of Country Day, Nina Horning of Lake Orion, and Eva Sarafa and Ella Schoomer of Birmingham Marian.
This wasn’t exactly what Vellucci expected, so the announcement 10 days ago came as a bit of a surprise.
“I was actually up north with my friends and my mom texted me and she was like, ‘You want to be on Miss Volleyball?’ And I was like, “What?” My friends were there too and they were all very excited. So it was really cool,” Bellucci said. “I’ve been a Novi volleyball fan forever. Really good players like Erin O’Leary (2017 Miss Volleyball) came along a long time ago. You could say I was in their shoes at that point.” It’s really cool, so I’m really proud of it.”
The Wildcats needed a Miss Volleyball-type performance to get past a Brighton team led by a bevy of solid hitters, with junior Abigail Mainka giving Wildcats coaches the biggest headache .
By the end of the match, they had as much blocking attention on her as the Bulldogs had on Bellucci.
“I mean, I give her all the credit. She had a great night. All in all, it just gave them another lock and another look at defense,” Byron said. “And some plays went well and some plays didn’t. But it was enough to give us a bit of an edge.”
It was a block by the Wildcats that ended the game, but everything was going back and forth until then.
Novi led the first set by as many as four points, 20-16, before the Bulldogs rallied back to 23-22. First he had Reganne Bennett top the block, then her Vellucci followed suit and closed it.
Novi’s photo gallery at Brighton Volleyball
The second set had a scoring misstep, inadvertently adding a point to the home side on the scoreboard at 17-14. Novi’s coach claimed it was wrong and Brighton’s event staff claimed otherwise. We scored points and won 27-25.
After coming back to a 22-20 draw in the third set, Novi won 28-26 with Hoffman’s crosscourt kill scoring 8 of his final 12 points.
The only slightly lopsided set came in the fourth set, with Brighton leading 15-10 on an 8-3 run, 21-15 on a 5-2 run, and a line shot from Mainka to close out another 4-2 run. .
Neither team led by more than three points in the final set, which was tied 14-14, 15-15, 16-16, but the Wildcats won the last two points.
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