Knights put up strong showing at KLAA tournament

A number of lakes area teams participated in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association (KLAA) Tournament at Novi on Saturday, Oct. 20.

Walled Lake Northern was the lone lakes area team to advance to the quarter-finals of the Gold Bracket.

In pool play, the Knights defeated Livonia Churchill, 25-20 and 25-20, before splitting with Livonia Stevenson (25-16, 22-25) and Huron Valley Milford (25-18, 25-27) to earn the No. 4 seed in the bracket.

Northern had a first-round bye before facing No. 5 Brighton in the quarter-finals and falling to the Bulldogs in three games, 17-25, 25-21 and 16-18.

Against Churchill, Peyton Lang had 13 kills out of 24 attempts with a .456 attack percentage. In the tournament, Courtney Sullivan had 24 kills and 11 total blocks, while Gabrielle Bauer had 20 kills.

Meanwhile, Walled Lake Central had a disappointing showing as it went 0-for-3 in its pool play matches, falling to Hartland (11-25, 24-26), Novi (15-25, 17-25), and Northville (16-25, 13-25).

The Vikings were matched up with Brighton in the first round of bracket play and fell to the Bulldogs, 25-13 and 25-10.

“It was a very tough KLAA Gold tournament with high-level competitive teams,” Central Head Coach Cathy Johnson said. “We just couldn’t get any intensity going at all today and we played just average volleyball which will not get the job done against the competition that we went against.”

Brittany Guldan had 19 kills, 15 assists, 14 digs and an ace for Central, while Catelyn Girard had 26 assists, four kills and an ace.

Alex Picardal also had 19 digs, while Mikaela Beck had 16 kills.

Meanwhile, Milford fell in its opening pool play matches to Huron Valley Lakeland (13-25 and 20-25) and Canton (16-25 and 14-25) before splitting with Walled Lake Northern (27-25, 18-25).

The Mavericks then fell to KLAA West Division rival Hartland in the first round of bracket play in three games, 21-25, 25-19, and 9-15.

Host Novi ended up claiming the KLAA title with a three-game victory over Northville in the tournament final.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association district tournament will begin on Monday, Oct. 29.

Central and Northern will join Lakeland and Walled Lake Western in the North Farmington district, along with Farmington Hills Harrison and the host Raiders.

Meanwhile, Milford will be in the Fowlerville district, along with Brighton, Hartland, Howell and host Fowlerville.

•

Walled Lake Central and Huron Valley Milford met in a KLAA crossover match on Tuesday, Oct. 16, with the Vikings winning in three games, 25-19, 25-16, and 27-25.

Guldan had 13 kills, eight assists and eight digs for the Vikings, while Girard had 22 assists and four aces. Picardal also had 12 digs and Beck had 14 kills.

•

Walled Lake Northern fell in three games to Brighton, 25-16, 25-15, and 25-19 on Tuesday, Oct. 16.

Lang had 12 kills and 14 digs for the Knights, while Bauer had 12 digs and Melissa Griffiths had 11 digs.