By Chad Wingert (Contact / Staff Bio)

Originally published November 25, 2009, 04:15 p.m. EST. Updated November 25, 2009, 04:15 p.m. EST

By Chad Wingert

Sports Editor

BATTLE CREEK — Finally... it happened.

After numerous attempts that fell just short, the North Branch volleyball team captured its first-ever state title Saturday by sweeping Delton-Kellogg (25-19, 30-28, 25-23), crowning the Broncos as the MHSAA’s 2009 Class B State Champs.

This year’s Bronco squad may have brought home the school’s first volleyball state title. But, Fish says this title represents much more than that. It reflects not only the hard work of this year’s team, but also his 2008 group who fell in the semi-finals.

“I am really ecstatic for not only this year’s team, but last year’s team. They were all here this weekend,” Fish said. “I cannot say enough about the heartbreak of last year. That loss was one of the most devastating losses.”

Just a year ago, the Broncos were tagged as early favorites to take the Class B crown statewide, and they lived up to all the hype until North Branch was tripped up in the semi-finals by Fruitport.

“The kids put in a tremendous amout of time into that season. And, when we couldn’t get it done, we didn’t watch film or do anything concerning volleyball for a couple of months,” Fish said. “But, this weekend, they were all here and they were the most happy for us.”

After the Broncos semi-final win at Kellogg Arena on Friday night, Fish and his squad had a very low-key night spent watching tape on Delton-Kellogg and getting some much-needed rest. But before the night came to a close, members of the 2008 squad had a special message for this year’s team.

“Last night at about 12:30, I had all the alumni that were here come in and talk to the girls in our hotel room,” Fish said. “Our kids were focused, but the tears of the alumni were flowing and our kids could see that they too wanted this bad.”

And as if North Branch needed any more motivation, this year’s team said that the message from the alumni gave them extra incentive.

“Six alumni talked to us last night and after, us seniors met just to talk about how badly we wanted this,” senior Katie Owens said. “We have all worked so hard and it paid off. They made us realize how much they too would appreciate it.”

And so North Branch, focused on the task at hand, came out running on all cylinders and played with all the confidence in the world. Little did the girls know, it was Fish on the sidelines who was slightly nervous, because of taking on Delton-Kellogg head coach Jack Magelssen.

“This guy is a legend. He is the nation’s all-time winningest volleyball coach,” Fish said. “He has won 10 state titles in Class A with Portage Northern. I really thought, man... can I hang with him as a coach?”

In 2004, Magelssen’s 28-year career as Portage Northern’s head coach ended. After a span that included 10 state titles and 14 regional championships, Magelssen’s contract was not renewed due to what the Portage-Northern administration called his “controversial coaching style.”

Now with Delton-Kellogg, Magelssen’s ways are proven to be solid after the Panthers posted a 59-7-2 record and gave North Branch everything they could handle in the Class B state finals.

“Kellogg - this is a great team. We played a ton better tonight than we did last night,” Fish said. “Last night we got it done but tonight, we had to play.”

The Panthers pushed the Broncos to the brink in the second set, a 30-point game that carried a lot of momentum for North Branch heading into the third set.

In the crucial set that featured nine lead changes, Delton-Kellogg clung to a 28-28 tie with the Broncos. But, that is as close as they would get as North Branch snuck away with a 30-28 win.

“The whole key to the match was that second set. I don’t know what we would have done if we would’ve lost that. That was big because we went up 2-0 and never quit,” Fish said. “To bounce back from things like that - that was a classic match.”

One of six seniors on this year’s team, Kara Stuewer, was told she would shine in her last game as a Bronco - and she did, leading North Branch with 12 kills, one dig, two block assists and an ace.

“We had told Kara Stuewer, you are going to be the player of the game for us tonight,” Fish said. “She led us in kills and played great.”

Katie Owens was not far behind with 11 kills while Jordan Fish set up 32 assists on the night. Fish also had seven kills. Danika Racknor had nine kills alongside Layne Molosky, who had five. Defensively, North Branch was led by Catherine Brusie with 25 digs while Taylor Wiegele added 10.

After all the hugs were done and the tears were shed, it was finally starting to settle in for a few of the North Branch seniors. They had just made school history and most of all, they had accomplished a lifelong goal.

“This is history. We have never been in this position before,” Owens said. “Being state champs is something we all wanted so bad. Some of us seniors are not going to play at the next level and we really wanted to get the job done.”

From Friday:

Broncos drop first set of playoffs, but still advance to finals

BATTLE CREEK — Saturday in the Class B semi-finals, the North Branch Broncos did something they have not done in almost a month - lose a single set.

Even after dropping their first game of the postseason, the Broncos were still able to prevail with a 3-1 win over Cadillac (56-6-2), sending them to the State Finals (25-14, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19).

“We haven’t lost a set in almost a month, since a tournament on Oct. 27th,” North Branch head coach Jim Fish said. “Before this tournament started, we said somewhere along the line we would run into adversity. We did tonight and I’m proud that these girls fought back. That was a good Cadillac team we beat.”

It was almost a carbon copy of what happened to North Branch in 2008, as they came out hot in the first set, only to fall in the second. But last year, the Broncos were not able to bounce back from a loss in the second game.

“We had flashbacks to last year, I’ll be honest. We won the first one easy, then we lose the second one 25-23, just like last year,” Fish said. “We talked to the girls, calmed them down and they came through. It was an elephant we got off our back tonight.”

The team’s players were even a little shocked after getting upended in the second set, but then again, senior Katie Owens said this was something their coach was trying to tell them since the tournament began.

“Coach Fish has been preparing us for this. He has been saying that someone is going to take a game from us,” Owens said. “We have practiced coming from behind so much and we just did it tonight.”

Starting with a 4-4 tie in the second set, North Branch never led again until almost halfway through the third game when the Broncos snuck ahead with a 11-10 edge. After that, the Vikings never saw another lead or even another tie as North Branch cruised to victory in the fourth and final set, leading 21-15 at one point.

“The whole key to the match was how we responded after losing that set. But, these kids are resiliant,” Fish said. “They have played a lot of volleyball. They didn’t panic, and they didn’t give up.”

Despite the win, Fish’s daughter and junior setter, Jordan, felt that she and the Broncos did not play up to their potential on Friday night.

“I don’t think we played up to our ability tonight, we played well enough to get the job done. We can play a lot better. Hopefully, we can show that tomorrow,” Fish said. “Last year, we were not prepared to lose. We thought we were the best and nobody could touch us. This year, we know that feeling and we didn’t want it again this year.”

Fish finished the night with 41 assists, 15 kills and six digs while Kara Stuewer posted 13 kills, two digs and a block. Danika Racknor piled up 11 kills, two assists, three aces and nine digs while Layne Molosky had a big first set to end the night with five kills, two digs and a block.

“Layne is always so nervous when she plays, but she really played great for us tonight,” Fish said. “In the first set she really stepped up, she was on fire.”

Defensively, the Broncos were led by Catherine Brusie with 26 digs while Owens collected 13 digs to go with her team-high 18 kills.

North Branch knows that their celebration can only last so long, as they now had to turn around and start preparing for their state title match the next day. But for the next few hours, these girls wanted to live in the moment.

“After going through it last year, this feels so much better,” Brusie said. “We knew what it took to come back, win and get to the finals. This feels so good.”

And as much as coach Fish and his squad want to win their first-ever state title, don’t think they aren’t still having fun.

“We had a lot of fun out there tonight. But, now we are back to the finals and we want to win it,” Fish said with a smile. “I’m sure the other team does, too. We just have to play and see what happens.”

Chad Wingert is the Sports Editor of the Advertiser and can be reached at Sports@tcadvertiser.com