Mavs beaten by Hartland and Pinckney squads

Huron Valley Milford finds itself on the ropes as it dropped two matches in division play last week.

Milford now finds itself at 2-3 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association (KLAA) West Division.

The Mavericks began the week with a five-game loss to first-place Hartland at home on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Milford won the first set against the Eagles, 25-21, before dropping the next two games, 24-26, 21-25.

After the Mavs bounced back with a 25-17 win, the Eagles (4-1 in the KLAA West) then jumped out to a 14-7 lead in the fifth game, before Jonna Villemure served five straight points to pull Milford within two.

But, Hartland would close out the game and the match, 15-12, in the tie-breaking game.

“Our girls are tough. They are never out of it and they don’t, they won’t quit,” said Milford Head Coach Jeffery Stark. “I am proud of how hard this group fights every time they take the court.”

Sophomore right-side attacker Jillian Butsavich led Milford with 12 kills and a .385 attack efficiency rating, while senior libero Maddie Carr had a serve receive efficiency rating of 93.1 percent to go along with 22 digs.

Villemure had 28 assists for the Mavs. Freshman Isabel Lee was 18-for-18 serving with 3 aces.

Milford then traveled to Pinckney on Thursday, Sept. 20 and fell to the Pirates in four games, 25-23, 20-25, 12-25, 22-25.

“This was a very tough loss for us to take and one that we earned through a passion-less effort. We are a team that feeds on tempo, noise and crowd energy. This gym is dark and quiet,” Stark said. “I told the team as a varsity level group we should be able to control our own output and not be dependent on others to generate it for us. This loss hurt the team, and I hope they grow from it.”

Sophomore Anna Swanson led Milford with 11 kills while Torey Gostek had 19 digs and Villemure had 35 assists and was a perfect 30-for-30 in serving on the night.

Milford then traveled to the Mount Morris Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 22 and advanced to the semi-finals, where the Mavs fell to Northville and took third-place.

The Mavs lost the first game to the Mustangs, 13-25, before bouncing back to win the second game, 25-20.

Milford then fell behind, 8-2, in the third game and ended up losing, 12-15.

“This was a great day for us. We played well and we didn’t lose, we just got beat. We can take that, but we won’t settle for it,” Stark said. “We have to get better on the outside and not lose ground elsewhere if we are to get where we want to be.”

Butsavich and Whitney Mergens combined for 47 of Milford’s 88 kills and 16 of its 23 blocks on the day, while Carr had a 2.25 pass rating and an 80.5 system pass percentage that Stark called huge.

Villemure had 65 total assists and was a perfect 41-for-41 on serving, while Karli Jenks had 6 aces.

The Mavs played at Grand Blanc yesterday, Tuesday, Sept. 25 after press time, and will host Howell on Tuesday, Sept. 27.