LETHAL WEAPON POWERS AACS TO VOLLEYBALL TITLE

By Mike Buchanan

 

If they film another Lethal Weapon movie, they can plug Shanan Higgins into the lead role because, on the volleyball court, her serve really is a “lethal weapon.”

 

With 13 aces overall, and six straight in the pivotal game two, Higgins’ serves were the difference on Saturday as Annapolis Area Christian defeated Towson Catholic, 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-23), to win the 2007 IAAM C-Conference volleyball title, and repeat as league champs.

 

It was an apropos title match, pitting the top two teams in the league against each other. Towson Catholic won the Gold Divison with a record of 12-1 and AACS won the Red with a perfect mark of 14-0. TC’s lone loss came at the hands of AACS earlier in the season.  Its second loss also came at the hands of the Eagles; unfortunately for the Owl faithful, it came in the final and most important match of the season.

 

Annapolis Area Christian jumped out to an early lead in the first game, but Towson Catholic rallied to tie and take the lead, 16-15, on a Tyler Hale kill.  It would be TC’s last lead of the game, as the Eagles went on to win the opener, 25-20.

 

The second game was literally dominated by Higgins.  With her team leading 7-4, the affable senior reeled off six straight aces, like clockwork.

 

Hard serve – 8-4. Hard serve – 9-4. Let’s mix in an easy lob serve, just over the net and just inside the line, like a mason precisely laying a brick in the exact spot – 10-4. Another line-drive, hard-to-handle laser to the left corner – 11-4. Mix in another soft floater that somehow barely cleared the net and found the one open spot on the floor left unattended, like a baseball pitcher following a 100 mph fastball with a tantalizing change-up – 12-4. Go back to the heat, another searing liner that found nothing but floor – 13-4.

 

Six straight aces and then an additional point on Higgins’ next serve made it 14-4. A three-point lead ballooned to a 10-point lead, and, for all intents and purposes, the game was over … as well as the match.

 

 When asked about the location of her serves, Higgins added, “It was position serving. I saw the hole in three when they were all backed up.”

 

The Owls showed heart and did not fold.  With Hale serving, TC ran off four straight points to cut a 19-13 deficit to 19-17. But that’s as close as the Owls would get.

 

Fittingly, Higgins rotated to serve again, with her team ahead, 21-18. She simply peeled off another four perfect serves in a row to close it out, 25-18.

 

The Owls would not go quietly, coming out strong in game three, and taking an early 10-7 lead.  It would be their final advantage, though, as AACS rallied to tie at 10-10. The teams traded points the rest of the way.  A failed AACS serve brought TC to within three, at 21-24, and the Owls had an opportunity to serve for game.  Two quick points brought them to within one, down only 23-24, but they could not get the needed extra points, as the Eagles closed it out.

 

The damage had been done earlier, in game two, as Higgins put her stamp on this contest with 10 aces in that game alone. In this reporter’s eyes, no other player on the day even approached the effectiveness of Higgins on the serve, including the players from both B and A Conference finalist teams. TC knew it had no answer for her lethal serves; AACS knew it had the upper hand because of them.

 

Higgins finished with 16 of 18 serving and 13 aces, and she also added five kills and 10 digs.

 

When interviewed post-game by DigitalSports, Higgins was asked about her expertise on serving, and commented “My dad is a big inspiration, he’s always getting on me about my serves, and my coach has taught me a lot, and I play a lot of club. Lately it’s been on, with a lot of practice.”

 

Fellow senior Amy Crout was 12/12 serving and had 19 assists, two kills and four digs. Junior Theresa Dark was instrumental with 10 kills and six digs, and junior Alivia Turnquist was 15/15 serving and nailed four kills.

 

AACS Coach Marianne Graham lauded the efforts of her senior co-captains,

“We lost six seniors and had only three returning varsity players, and only two starters; it was a lot different team than last year. Shanan transitioned from setter to outside hitter, as we moved to a 5-1 offense with just one setter (Amy). Those two provided our leadership; Shanah as the vocal one and Amy as the steady, quiet one. And both hit milestones this year, with Amy getting 400 assists and Shanan getting 200 kills,“ added Graham.

 

Coach Charlie Loskarn was pleasantly pleased with the performance of his Towson Catholic squad. They finished at 11-1 in the regular season and 14-2 overall, with both losses at the hands of AACS.  Seniors Tyler Hale (nine kills, 9/9 serving) and Gabrielle Styles had solid games, as did junior Meghan Perez (7/10 serving and three kills).

 

Said Loskarn, about his team’s performance, “The only team that beat us all year was, unfortunately, the team that beat us tonight. They are real quick, the quickest of all teams in the C. Our offense was cooking with Hale and Styles up front. Tyler (Hale) had a career day and was the best digger out there today.”

 

When asked about the effectiveness of Higgins’ serves, Loskarn replied, “We worked on it for 30 to 45 minutes in practice yesterday. We lined up and rotated, versus the serve to practice against it, but she was just outstanding today.”

 

The rest of the Annapolis Area Christian team made key contributions as well,  but take away Higgins’ serves, and this match might well have come down to a fifth-game tie-breaker.

 

AACS Coach Marianne Graham was just as pleased, as her Eagles (14-0, 18-1) completed another title run. Two seasons in the IAAM and two volleyball championships.

 

It doesn’t get much better than that.

 

Annapolis Area Christian 3, Towson Catholic 0
25-20, 25-18, 25-23