TRAVERSE CITY -- The Class A district title is back at Traverse City West.
After TC Central ended West's six-year run as district champ last year, the Titans returned the favor on Saturday.
TC West earned a four-set win over the host Trojans in the semifinal before wrapping up the district crown with a 25-11, 25-19, 25-15 win over Marquette in the championship match.
"The kids came out today and played very consistently, and at a high level," Titans coach Lisa Placek said. "That's what you've got to do. Especially in districts. Especially against a team like TC Central. They're a solid team."
The Titans (19-17-3) will return to TC Central on Tuesday to play Grand Haven in the regional semifinal.
"They're pretty tough," Placek said. "They have a couple of good middles. Any of the schools in the Grand Rapids area, they're tough. The nice thing is, every one of our tournaments except for our own home tournament, we go down there and we put ourselves in that. We're used to seeing that."
Saturday, TC West pulled off a 25-22, 25-21, 25-27, 25-22 win over the Trojans. It came after the two rivals split during the Big North Conference season.
"The first thing I said, though, was it's bittersweet," Titans senior Gaby Muller said. "I have some really good friends on their team and I love them. But when it comes down to it, I'm going to play my hardest to beat them."
West had match point two times in the third game, but Central fought back to stay alive. The Trojans eventually won it with three straight points, thanks to a Laura Spencer kill, a West error and a block from Rachel Stieger.
West led the entire fourth game -- but never more than five points -- and clinched the win with back-to-back kills from Muller and Emily Ellison.
"West made the plays that were necessary and we didn't," Trojans coach Tim Homa said. "Unforced errors hurt us, ultimately. I felt like we were climbing a hill all match to get back into it. Even the match we won, I still felt like we were climbing a hill."
Muller had 10 kills and 15 digs in the match, Ellison had 10 kills and seven digs while Courtney Saxton had 12 digs and Paige Johns added 10.
Spencer's career came to an end with 25 kills, 25 digs, nine blocks and three aces. Meredith Aja also had 19 kills and eight digs as the two players will each narrow down their choices of colleges to play at next year.
"(They're) probably the two best players I've coached in 15 years," Homa said. "To see somebody like a Laura Spencer play the way she did, she wears her emotions on her sleeve. But boy, she plays the game at such a high level."
TC Central also had 40 assists from Carly Beers, 12 digs from Maddie Connick and 10 digs from Melina Bonaccini.
The Titans had to quickly shift gears from their rival to Marquette, but didn't seem to get distracted by their win over the Trojans.
"You do normally worry about that because high school volleyball is such a game of momentum," Placek said. "It's weird. Going into (the Marquette) match, I just knew my kids were going to bring it. I didn't know exactly what was going to happen, I couldn't predict that. But I really felt comfortable that they were ready. I don't always have that feeling."
West didn't have any trouble against the Redettes. The Titans closed out the first game by winning five straight points, put the second one away on a Gabby Corwin ace and closed out the district on consecutive kills from Anna Arnold and Kelly Flynn.
"I think when we got towards the end of the season, we probably started thinking about (the district title) after our Petoskey match up there, which wasn't a great match for us," Placek said when asked when her teams shifted focus from the league race to the district. "We kind of decided to switch gears. It's funny, we got canceled with the schools closed and it was kind of a blessing because we all got to rest. During that week, I think everybody started thinking 'hey, we're going right into playoffs.' That's when we really started focusing on it."
In the title match, Flynn had eight kills and 10 digs, Muller had five digs, five kills and five aces, Ellen Patenaude had nine kills and two aces, Corwin had 12 digs and four aces while Tina Green had 33 assists.
Placek was able to rotate in a lot of players during the two matches Saturday.
"It's really nice," Placek said. "I love the fact that I can get everybody on the court. The kids love to play. I understand that, so anytime I can do that, I will."
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