TRAVERSE CITY -- Two teams are looking for return trips.
Two others are already in uncharted territory.
Welcome to the state volleyball quarterfinals, northern Michigan-style.
The two teams looking to make a return to the semifinals -- Kingsley in Class C and Pellston in Class D -- have to make the shortest trips to make today's quarterfinals. Both face teams making trips from the other side of the Mackinac Bridge.
Kingsley (55-7-4) faces 2007 semifinalist Calumet (51-3-1). The Lady Stags are trying to advance to the final four for the first time since making the 2003 finals.
"I do like the home-court advantage, so to speak," Kingsley coach Dave Hall said. "It's an eight-hour drive for them, 20 minutes for us.
"If it's an advantage for anybody, it's an advantage for us. I'm thinking we'll have a few more fans than they do."
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Pellston, which is looking to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2003, has an even bigger edge than Kingsley. The Hornets (45-8-6) play their quarterfinal at home against Crystal Falls Forest Park.
"That's going to feel pretty good," Pellston coach Tim McNitt said. "That should be a big advantage for us. We're familiar with the court surroundings and I think we'll bring in a big crowd."
While Kingsley and Pellston look for their second-ever trip to the volleyball semifinals, Traverse City Christian and Petoskey had never won a regional title before last week.
TC Christian (40-13-8) play Bay City All Saints in the Class D quarterfinal at Clare.
After winning a regional game for the first time, the Sabres are ready to see how far this team can go.
"A lot of teams set goals to make the semifinals or whatever," TC Christian coach Russ Hansen said. "To be honest, that wasn't one of our goals. That was so far ahead of where we were thinking.
"I wanted to beat Mason County Eastern (in the regional semifinals) because they beat us last year. Anything after that was gravy.
"This whole experience is a real treat, a fun journey for the coach."
Petoskey also won a volleyball regional title for the first time, outlasting Big North foe Cadillac in five games in the semifinal before beating Sault Ste. Marie in four.
Petoskey (38-8-3) travels to Big Rapids for its Class B quarterfinal today against Fruitport.
Northmen coach Heather Miller also wants to see how far this team can go after making history.
"It's very exciting," Miller said. "Last week was quite a week emotionally. We're playing our best volleyball of the season right now and peaking at the right time.
"We're hoping to continue to ride that high and not be satisfied. These opportunities don't come around too often, so we want to keep it going as long as we can."
Miller, a graduate of Holland West Ottawa, sent her dad to tape the Trojans at regionals.
It didn't take father or daughter long to see that the Fruitport offense revolves around senior Naomi Bush.
"They have one real go-to girl," Miller said. "They try to run a lot of their offense through her. Plus she does everything well. She jump-serves and had a lot of aces (in the regional final) and she's all over the place defensively.
"One key to our success will be to keep the ball away from her. We have a good serving team so we can throw their offense a little bit.
"We're going to have to be aggressive offensively as well. We have some good hitters of our own and if they can put the ball away, then we'll be OK."
Aggressive offense is also Kingsley's game-plan against a Calumet team that has four six-footers.
The Copper Kings are led by senior Abby Storm, who had 32 kills at regionals. Calumet also features junior Kathleen Moyryla and senior Jordan Kronshage on offense, which is run by senior setter Erica Twardzik.
"One key, just from what I've seen and what we focused on (Sunday), is we're going to have to dig some balls and we're definitely going to have to hit at them," Hall said. "We going to make sure we don't tip or send too many free balls over.
"They run a quick offense so if we can hit aggressively, maybe we can keep them out of their offense a little bit."
Calumet has played just one five-game match this season. The Copper Kings have not dropped a game in the postseason, but neither has Kingsley.
"They're big and they bring back five starters from last year's final four team," Hall said of his opponent. "They're a legitimate team to beat."
While Calumet is looking for its second straight trip to the final four, so is Crystal Falls.
Pellston knows that all to well, losing to Forest Park in three games at last season's quarterfinal.
McNitt said mistakes will likely tell the tale between the two familiar foes.
"I would expect it to be a long, gruelling match," he said. "If it goes five games, that means we're still in it.
"It'll come down to unforced errors again. Five (mistakes) is a good number, 15 is a bad number and somewhere in between is a gray area."
Hansen admitted he probably knows the least about TC Christian's quarterfinal opponent. But that's not necessarily a negative.
"I know zero," Hansen said of All Saints. "I don't know anything about them. But I think it's good for us.
"Our girls are going to have to play their game and not worry about anything else. They just need to play their game to the best of their abilities and hope for the best."
Quarterfinals: Today's action
Class B at Big Rapids
Petoskey vs. Fruitport, 7
Class C at TC St. Francis
Kingsley vs. Calumet, 7
Class D at Pellston
Pellston vs. Crystal Falls Forest Park, 6:30
Class D at Clare
TC Christian vs. Bay City All Saints
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