Vestaburg High School - Wolverine Yearbook (Vestaburg, MI)

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 Volleyball Varsity JV W Midland Christian L Montabella L St. Charles L Merrill L Ithaca L Lakeview W W Sacred Heart W L Belding L L G. R. Christian L L Saranac L L Carson City L L Ashley W L Portland W L Ashley W L Montabella L L Sacred Heart W L Central Montcalm L L Beal City W Overall 11:2-16 Overall: 7-6 !! CRUNCH TIME. Sophomore spiker Kristy Kloeckner crushes the ball down onto an opposing Beal City player in the second set of the match. ET IT, SPIKE IT BURN THE NETS by Amy Hodges The volleyball teams might have had a bad season on paper but if you went to their games you would have seen that they gave some teams a challenge. Under the first year coaching of Miss Rhode, and Miss Neff the volleyball teams were young and inexperienced. But de- spite all this, the team started the season on a positive note. “We weren’t really sure how things would go, but the girls worked hard to do better,” said Miss Rhode. Both volleyball teams set goals at the beginning of the season. One of the goals they had was to improve their bumps and serves during every game. Because there were many teams having practice the same night, the varsity volley- ball team had to share the gym with the JV’s. “It really didn’t bother me, but it would have been nicer if we had the whole gym to ourselves,” said Michele Stratton. Running laps and doing net jumps were the girls’ punishment for missing a ball or not getting a serve over in the game or practice. “I hated running laps,” explained Mi- chelle Keeler. “She made us run too much.” The season wasn’t all bad. There were good times, too. Practices were hated by most of the girls but sometimes they were fun. Jenny Stearns always provided good times by making faces at Miss Rhode or hitting the ball on the ceiling when serving. Every once in a while the varsity would scrimage the JV players; but spent most of the time goofing around. After the JV season was over, the varsi- ty had the whole gym to themselves. Most of the girls agreed that it was more fun after the JV players were gone. “It was a lot better once the JV season was over,” said Amy Hodges. We had a lot more time at the net and more space to practice in.” Miss Rhode and the JV coach Miss Neff got their practicing in when the varsity players scrimaged among themselves. Be- cause there weren’t enough varsity players they had to play. Riding the bus was the most fun of the volleyball season. On the way home from the volleyball districts at Potterville, the girls got a surprise. “When we were coming home, we all had the windows down, and a car load of guys went by and we yelled, but they mooned us,” said Michelle Stratton. Miss Rhode always told the girls that they talked more on the bus than on the court. Even though the season was not a win- ning one for the varsity and JV volleyball teams, they did reach their goal of improv- ing as a team and as themselves through- out the season. !! MAKING THE SAVE. Junior Tonee Keller makes the save and sets the ball for a spike in the home match against Lakeview. 18a ! Volleyball

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!! LET’S DO THE BUMP. Jerry Johnston and David Bowser bump hips as they go up for the opening jump in the in- tersquad scrim- mage. The Wipe-Out: In the game against Belding, the 73-41 victory gave the phrase “Wipe out” new meaning. The Close-Call: Four quarters of back and forth battle and lead changes mattered not to the Wolver- ines as they edged Portland in over- time 62-60. The Heart-Stopper: In the game against Saranac, the home court, and the inspired play of Wolverines proved tough, but not tough enough, as Saranac topped them 44-43. The TP’en At the last game, fans decided to really get in the spirit, as they brought and flung hundreds of rolls of toilet paper onto the floor after the first Wolverine basket. — Ups and Downs — BOY’S VARSITY BASKETBALL — FRONT ROW: TYoy Mortensen, Dominic Beni. Harold Franks. Ike King. BACK ROW: Coach Gary Lesky, Jeff Humphrey. Tim Beach, David Bowser. Jerry Johnston. Gary Keyes. Manager Ryan Smith. MISSING: Andy Frost, Steve Kolenda. I! PUT IT UP. Ike King decides to take the long jumper over a rival Montabella player in the home loss 47-69. Sports ! 17a

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!! AIMING FOR AN ACE. Serving extrao- dinaire Rachel Butler concentrates hard on driv- ing straight through the ball in the second set in the match against Sacred Heart. VARSITY VOLLEYBALL — FRONT ROW: Jennifer Bissell, Shawn Antes. Michele Stratton. Michelle Keeler. BACK ROW: Coach Joanne Rhode. Jenny Stearns. Chris Johnston. Amy Hodges. Terri Kahlo. Denise Every. JUNIOR VARSITY VOLLEYBALL — FRONT ROW: Rachel Butler. Melissa Beard. Shannon Kloeckner, Nancy Palmer. Pam Martin. Raedene Gifford. BACK ROW: Heidi Erikson, Tonya LaPaugh, Heather Dailey, Jennifer Bennett. Odessa Benavidez. Kristy Kloeckner. Shelly Johnson. !! SETTING IT FOR THE SPIKE. Veteran setting Michelle Stratton gives another set, and another sure point to the front row spikers in the match against Beal City. The Bumper: It took many spikes, bumps, and an all-around hard effort, but the Varsity Volleyball team won their opening match against Midland Christian. The Spiker: In the match against Ashley, the phrase spike was given a new name as the JV bumpers thrashed the Bears in 2 straight. The Blowout: It took 2 out of 3 sets, as the JV Wolverines trounced Sacred Heard with tough defense and brilliant serving. Ups and Downs — Sports ! 19a