By John Raffel

 

The last two times that Jim Fish coached the North Branch volleyball team in the Class B state finals, he had to accept the runner-up trophy. But this year, Fish got the first-place trophy after the Broncos swept Lakewood 3-0 for the state title.

North Branch took the title in 2009 but was runner-up in 2010 to Fruitport and in 2012 to Lakewood, when the Vikings prevailed 25-20, 25-18, 25-17.

This time, the young Vikings couldn’t overcome the hungry Broncos, who weren’t settling for anything less than first place.

“I knew we were the better team today,” Fish said. “Two years ago, we knew they were the better team. They had four, four-year starters, and we knew we were up against it.

“We’ve won twice now. It’s hard to win a state title. It’s just hard. We’ve won two and lost three in the finals and lost one in the semifinals. You’re down here six times in nine years, that’s not too bad, and win two of them, I’ll take that. You’re playing really good teams.”

North Branch took a 25-19, 25-15 lead and sneaked out the last one 25-23.

“They’re Lakewood, and Lakewood, as young as they are, oh my goodness,” Fish said. “Who knows, they had a key injury [in the semifinal]. They made a lot of adjustments. I give them a lot of credit, and they’re going to be around.”

Laura Wilson had the hot hand for the champions with 22 kills, while Olivia Fike added nine kills. Mady Ruhlman had 14 digs, while Madee Miner came through with 39 assists.

Because of previous close losses in state tournament action, the team “talked all year about the value of one point, just one point,” Fish said. “It came through today. Our kids were pretty motivated all season long.”

Fish now has a 15-year record of 861-140-44, and this year’s team ended the season at 61-7-4.

What was especially impressive about North Branch’s drive was its dominance. The Broncos only lost one set in the entire postseason tournament. “It didn’t seem like it, because we had to work for it,” Fish said. “Mount Morris in the district finals was a big game. We respected everyone along the way. Our kids never looked ahead. I knew somebody was going to have to play well to beat us. It’s been a month and a half since we lost.”

North Branch defeated five ranked teams during its tournament run – Mount Morris, Frankenmuth, Notre Dame Preparatory, Lakewood, and Cadillac.

“It’s not cheap, man,” Fish smiled.

Comparing this year’s state championship team to his past championship team, he concluded that the 2009 team “was more of a finesse team. This was more of a power team. [Wilson] is the best hitter I’ve ever had.”

“We beat a lot of teams in three, but it’s not as easy as people might think,” Wilson said “We just went in mentally ready and tough in these games. We all know the one goal we wanted, and we did it.” 

“It’s incredible; there’s no feeling like it,” senior libero Mady Ruhlman said. “You can’t have that overconfidence thinking you’re going to win. You have to push it point by point. We were pretty headstrong about winning this. We lost two years ago. We came back for revenge.”