TRAVERSE CITY — Thirteen supposedly is an unlucky number.
It’s looking pretty good to Traverse City Central right now.
The Trojans won their 13th consecutive volleyball game against rival Traverse City West and third this season while securing a fourth straight district championship with a 25-20, 27-25, 25-17 victory in Thursday’s Division 1 district match at TC Central.
“We beat them 13 times in a row now, which is really exciting for us,” Central senior middle blocker Sable Dankers said. “It just feels really good. Since I’ve been on varsity, we’ve beat them every time.”
The wins haven’t been easy by any means. One against West this season went to five sets with a 15-13 fifth.
“It’s a really personal game for a lot of the girls on both teams, just because we play travel together and we’re such good friends,” Trojans junior Bella Hernalsteen said. “But it’s always nice to take a W. It’s like a sibling rivalry. We can be opponents right now, but after the game ends, it’s all back to friends.”
Central (30-9) advances to play Cadillac (36-7-1) in Tuesday’s 6 p.m. regional semifinal at Mt. Pleasant. The Trojans and Vikings split two regular-season matches and ended up sharing the Big North Conference title.
“Cadillac is a good team,” TC Central head coach Emily Wilbert said. “They are super scrappy. Defensively, they are very strong. It’s mentally knowing that a lot of balls are going to come back and to stay in long points and wait for opportunity to get the kill.”
West’s season ends with a 23-16 record and a bright future for a team loaded with underclassmen playing big roles.
The Trojans usually pick an MVP after each game, but this time the coaches couldn’t decide on a single player and awarded the honor to the whole team.
“They’re a tough team,” Wilbert said of West. “I knew tonight would be tough. They weren’t going to be easy to beat. We’re playing pretty well, and we’re doing a lot of things that I want to see at this point in the season. They put up a fight, and we certainly had to work to earn those games.”
West jumped out to an impressive 9-2 lead in the first set, prompting Central to call an early timeout.
“I don’t know why we have to start slow sometimes,” Wilbert said. “Sometimes it’s like we’re error prone, but I don’t feel like that’s necessarily what it was (this time). (West) got some good points, and we just sort of struggled to put a stop to it. When we called that first time out, it was like, ‘Hey, we’re doing some good things. Let’s just get back into control here.'”
The Trojans then proceeded to reel off 11 consecutive points on Avery Taggart’s serve before West used a timeout. Erica Heffner and Macaire Kudary each produced three kills during the run, which saw TCC take a 13-9 lead en route to the 25-20 win.
“I was just thinking that we need to get one point,” Dankers said. “We’ve been talking a lot about our momentum and our positivity to each other, and that played a really big role in us winning. Once we clicked as a team and got our positive attitudes together, we really pulled together and ended really well.”
West sophomore outside hitter Jillian Width led the Titans in a back-and-forth second set that saw 26 ties or lead changes. She had a kill to knot up the set at 10-10, then another to give West a 21-20 lead before Central took it back with consecutive Dankers kills.
Width’s third attack of the point tied the set at 23 and the Trojans called timeout down 24-23. West went up 25-24 on another Width kill before Kudary banged out back-to-back kills and freshman Sienna Moeke closed it out with a cross-court shot to the corner for a 27-25 Trojans win.
“She started out really strong for us beginning the season, and then she got a little quiet and kind of reserved a little bit,” TC West head coach Emily Baumann said of Width. “Then this game, she started swinging aggressively and went hard, and definitely has one of the best games she’s had in a while.”
Width was a back-row player last year on junior varsity, then had a growth spurt and moved to the front row this season.
Central sprinted to an 8-2 lead in the third and led 21-9 before TC West made a run to get within six points. An Emily Kelsey kill got the Titans within 23-17 with a 4-0 run that also featured a kill by sophomore middle blocker Brook Brayton.
The Titans graduate seniors Emma Flick, Eleanor Kinsey, Kelsey, Kiera Murphy and Keagan Kaberle, but have a young core coming back.
“Brooke played really well in the middle,” Baumann said. “We have a lot of underclassmen. We have Liv (Kandow) back.”
Kandow played through a back injury that forced her to sit out the last week.
The Titans had four sophomores — Brayton, Width, Savanah Sullivan and Kendall Sierzputowski — who all played regular roles, plus three juniors who’ll be back next season in Kandow, setter Marissa Ansorge and Izzy Hardy.
“We have to find our middles, and we had a hard time finding them, because they swing aggressive,” Baumann said of Central. “They have some big hitters that swing hard.
“I’m proud of the way that they fought the whole time. I wish we would have gotten one of those games. That would have given us a little bit of momentum, especially that second one. We were right there, but they played well. That third game wasn’t our best, for sure, but I’m glad we fought back.”