PAGE 6

SPORTS
NOVEMBER 2014

TOP
Performers
Freshman - Volleyball

NOVEMBER

Photos by E. Edevbie/ Editor in chief

Photos by K. Wheeler/ Yearbook

Fast Fact: Erin is ranked

by USA Volleyball as the #1
freshman setter in the country.
Season Stats: 179 kills,
1,405 assists, 62 aces, 39
blocks, and 322 digs

Clockwise from far left: Senior Gabby Littleton leads the team into a student section bridge for celebration. The girls throw their locked hands in the air after the
National Anthem. Junior Paulina Iacobelli jumps to hit the ball over the net. The team poses with its District Final award after the game Nov. 6.

V lleyball sets new bar

Hannah LONERGAN

Senior - Football

Senior - Cross Country

Erin OLEARY

College: Hannah signed

her Letter of Intent to run at
Northern Michigan University.
Fast Fact: Finished 21st
at States with a time of
18:21.8 minutes.

Team makes it to Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek,

plays for State Championship against Romeo

Brittani Kiel
Editor in chief

bkiel@n ovischools.net

Matt SABO

ince the fall of 2007 Volleyball hasnt seen further than

the Quarterfinals. Until now.
The team won its way to the Final
Four at Kellogg Arena in Battle
Creek.
Being able to say we made it to
Battle Creek kind of means were
making history, senior Jen Smith
said. Every volleyball player in
Michigan knows what Battle Creek
means, and if you can say you
made it there, you have earned the
respect from all players.
The team had an undefeated
regular season, along with being
named Division, All-Conference,
Association, District and Regional
Champions this year.
Our association tournament
was awesome, Massab said. Our
game against Hartland, we just
had full control, and we won every
game.

Position: Running Back

One Thing Hell Miss:
Taking the tape on his
ankles off after every game.
Season Stats: 765 total
yards and 13 touchdowns

UPCOMING
EVENTS
Hockey
12/3/14
vs. Plymouth
@ Artic Edge,
7:00 p.m.
12/6/14
vs. SL Unified
@ KV Ice House,
5:00 p.m.

NEW
TRADITI NS

The girls won their way to the

finals against with Romeo.
The Wildcats dominated in
their game against Salem, Nov. 4, at
home in the first round of districts.
The girls won 25-12, 25-13 and 2516, taking them to the District Finals against the Canton Chiefs.
While playing Canton you
could just see them break down, as
they were starting to lose, Massab
said. But our team is so driven and
so confident in each other that we
know we can win.
It has been four years since the
Wildcats have made it out of districts and this year the girls made
it happen.
Novi defeated the Chiefs on
its home court 25-11, 25-27, 25-17
and 25-12, making them District
Champions.
Now that weve made it out
of districts we know we got this,
Massab said. I just really want
my team to believe in each other
and themselves, because we can
do this.

12/5/14
vs. Hazel Park
@ Novi HS,
7:00 p.m.

During 3rd Hour, Nov. 21, students and teachers lined the hallways to recognize the volleyball team through applause during
a Clap Out as the girls headed for a bus taking them to the Class A Final Four in Battle Creek. In an email Prinicipal Nicole
Carter sent to the staff, she wrote, We are hoping to start new traditions to celebrate the successes of our students.

Eight swimmers, two

divers make it to States,
Bianchi advances to
second day

Photos by M. Dunn/ Yearbook

Competitive
Cheer

Boys Basketball

Being a freshman on the team

and knowing that I have three more
years to be able to get to this point
again is incredible, Lalain said.
The Wildcats faced the Grand
Haven Buccaneers in the State
Semifinals, Nov. 21. Taking the
Buccaneers to five sets and winning the final set 15-12 to take them
to the Championship game.
The girls took Novi, for the
first time in its history, to the State
Championship final where they
faced Romeo High School, Nov. 22.
In the first and second sets Novi
fell short to Romeo 25-23 and 2522, but the Wildcats did not back
down.
Novi defeated Romeo in the
next two sets, 25-14 and 27-25. The
girls took Romeo to a fifth set and
fell short 15-9, ending their season,
54-6-1.
Athletic director Brian Gordon
organized a two-day fan bus that
took student fans to and from Battle Creek to support the girls.

From flip turn to (free)stylish finish

Girls Basketball

12/5/14
Invitational
@ Novi HS,
7:00 a.m.

Senior Gabby Littleton posted

on Twitter the day the girls beat
Canton, Wouldnt trade this feeling or my girls for anything in
the world #DistrictChamps #VarVolTakesRegionals.
The girls traveled to West
Bloomfield for the Regional Semifinals to take on the Fenton Tigers,
Nov. 11. They won 25-20, 25-12 and
25-22, advancing to the Regional
Finals to play Lakeland at West
Bloomfield High School, Nov. 13.
Novi continued the winning
streak and beat Lakeland in four
games making the team Regional
Champions.
It was a really great feeling,
freshman Julia Lalain said. I was
so excited because we worked so
hard to get to that point.
The girls won the first set
against Lapeer High School in
Quarterfinals, 29-27, and the winning contin ued. They went on to
beat Lapeer 25-16 in the second
set and 25-22 in the third, in Midland, Nov. 18.

The girls swim and dive team cheers after finishing the
Division meet.

Sheily Shah

Feature Editor

sshah@novischools.net

In the fourth event of the Division meet, the 50 yard freestyle, eight swimmers in tightly
pressed goggles and swim caps
grab their starting blocks as soon
as the starter says Take your
mark. The whistle is blown, and
the swimmers shoot out into the
water. Forty seconds later, the
swimmers look up at their times.
One swimmer, Ava Bianchi,
looks at her time and smiles. 24
seconds.1.19 seconds faster than
the state cut.
I was really proud of myself, especially considering that
we werent even on taper at the

time, Bianchi said. I got third

at conferences and am qualified
for states. I really hope that I
can get top 16 at states to make
it back.
Bianchi reached her goal as
she achieved 16th place in the
State meet and was able to make
it back.
Along with Bianchi, juniors
Alexandra Cortez and Dana Kilponen, sophomores Karen Xu,
Idalia Moore, Emily Mayoras
and freshmen Hanna Dong and
Alice Ying qualified for states.
Bianchi said there were a lot of
people who hit their goal times,
and that had been the greatest accomplishment of the season.She was the only one on the

team to make it back to states for

the second day.
As Dong reflected back on
the season, she said she was very
proud.
We dropped lots of time at
the Division meet as a team,
Dong said, It was a good accomplishment for us.
Senior Alyssa Stark and sophomore Sukhi Sidhu also made it
to regionals for diving.
Since [the dive team] is extremely small with only three
divers, it was nice because we
were so close-knit and we worked
as a team, Sidhu said.

12/9/14
vs. WL Western
@ Novi HS,
7:00 p.m.

Lonergan competes at MHSAA State Finals

Wrestling

Places 21st at 5k meet as Girls XCs lone runner

Boys Swim
and Dive
12/6/14
vs. Fenton
@Fenton HS,
12:00 p.m.

Adhitya Mahesh
Staff Writer

amahesh@novischools.net

There was only one girl from

Cross Country who competed
at Nov. 1 MHSAA State Finals:
Hannah Lonergan.
My reaction to when I found
out I was running alone was excitement and disappointment,
Lonergan said. I was very eager to run at the meet, but at the
same time I was disappointed
that the team didnt make it.
The girls did not qualify as
a team for states however, the
team still came to the State Finals meet to support Lonergan.
It was awesome that the

girls came to cheer me on at

States, Lonergan said. Their
support truly helped me succeed in the race.
Lonergan prepared for this
race by continuing her same
routine. She said she tried not to
think about the meet as it came
closer and wanted to make this
race as stress-free as possible,
doing things like she normally
would.
It was exciting and thrilling to run alone at the meet,
but it would have been cool to
be there as a team, Lonergan
said. But in a way it was a great
honor to be the only one selected because I can truly represent
my team.

She placed 21st at the meet

with a time of 18:21.8 minutes
for the 5k run, which made her
the school record holder.
I was really excited when I
realized that I broke the school
record, Lonergan said. I am
very happy that all my hard
work has paid off.
Lonergan finished the race
three milliseconds behind 20th
place.
Overall I would have to say
the experience has been bittersweet, Lonergan said. I am
really appreciative that I was
able to compete at states my last
time as a senior.

Photo provided by H. Lonergan

12/10/14
Quad
@ North
Farmington HS,
5:30 p.m.

Senior Hannah Lonergan (right) runs at the MHSAA State Finals

Nov. 1. She ended up breaking the 5k race school record with a
time of 18:21.8 minutes.

Field hockey
shoots higher,
stands ground

Team reaches
semifinals for
third consecutive
year, loses to Ann
Arbor Pioneer

Maria Elkin
Opinion Editor

All photos by C. Conroy/ Yearbook

melkin@novischools.net

Closer than
ever

Senior Casey
Lawler braids a
teammates hair
on the sidelines
before a game.
I got to know
the girls really
well ... it was a
really amazing
organization
to come into,
Lawler said.

Senior Natalie
Trainor puts
an arm around
senior Amanda
Minissale at
their game
against Ann Arbor
Skyline Sept. 9.
My favorite part
was that every
single person on
the team was
my best friend,
Trainor said.

The team goes

over strategy
before a game.
Its really special
... its a really cool
energy, assistant
varsity coach
Amy Kilgore said
of the pregame
huddle.

All photos (including headshots) by K. Dubay/ Yearbook

Senior center defenseman Keri Masserant nearly collides with an Ann Arbor Huron
player during a home game Oct. 10. Masserant said her favorite part of the season
was when they beat Huron, last years Division I state champions.

Field hockey captain and center

defenseman Keri Masserant cycled
through a storm of emotions during the last game of her high school
season.
Coming up to the game I was
super excited and nervous during the game, it was super hype
after the game it was just shock
we were all crying and hugging,
she said.
The score was at 0-1 with just
over six minutes left when the Ann
Arbor Pioneer goalie tipped the
ball back into her own teams net.
We were all freaking out,
Masserant said.
The teams excitement was
short-lived, however. Almost as
soon as they got the goal, the referee took it away because the team
had supposedly committed a foul
before the goal was made.
We went to the huddle and
people were crying because we had
like two minutes left and we had
just gotten the goal taken away and
then so we were all just trying to
keep it together, Masserant said.
We all fought it out to the very
end everyone was still going 100
percent trying to win.
Senior goalie Casey Lawler said
she thought they should have been
the ones to make it to finals.
I really feel that we were the
higher team, she said. Any given
day it could have had a different
outcome.
This is the third year in a row
the team has lost in the semifinals,
and the second losing to Pioneer.
Its a tremendous accomplishment for our girls to be at the very
end hanging with girls who have
been playing since they were nine

years old, assistant varsity coach

Amy Kilgore said. Its beyond
amazing.
Most of the Novi girls didnt
begin playing field hockey until
high school, but despite having less
time senior right midfielder Natalie
Trainor said she can see how much
the girls have improved.
[Pioneer] used to murder us
like 10-0, and then as the years
progressed Novi has built up the
program, so now we have close
games, she said. Theyll walk
out with the war paint and its like
Yeah, theyre scared.
Kilgore played field hockey
from third grade, in high school
and on the University of Michigan
team. She started the program seven years ago, and the team moved
up to Division I in 2012.
We went undefeated in our
conference and really as a team
we came together and got to know
each other really well and we really
became a family, senior goalie
Casey Lawler said.
The team won Division IV the
year after the program started, Division III two years after that, and
Division II the next year.
I think [next years girls are]
gonna feel like we did last year,
that theyre never gonna be able
to replace [this years team]. But I
think if they work hard theyll do
it, Masserant said. Even if they
dont [get to finals] I hope theyll
beat Pioneer.
Though this season is over,
Kilgore is already thinking about
the next.
I just love that I could go out on
the field and learn a new stick skill,
learn a new trick, teach a new one
to one of my athletes, said Kilgore.
Theres just always the next thing,
youre never done.

Junior Joost Plaetinck runs at the teams second meet of the year at Salem. The team runs together at the Salem Invitational. Coach Bob Smith talks to the team before a race.

Boys cross country breaks through,

runs all the way to States
Team makes it to MHSAA Finals after four-year slump
Nikhil Sarilla
Staff Writer

nsarilla@novischools.net

As children started to trick

or treat on Halloween, the boys
cross country team piled into
their coachs utility van, and
set off to Brooklyn, Michigan
to compete at the state meet at the
Michigan International Speedway.
Last year, the team was just
shy of making the states cut.
We were seven points away
from qualifying as a team,
senior captain Cameron Misko
said. We narrowly missed it
and it was our goal all year, so it
was nice to finally get that monkey off of our backs.
The team has not qualified
for states as a team for the last
four years.
Novi used to go every year,
and we had a really good tradition of that, senior captain Sahisnu Malapati said. But when
I was a freshman, the team
kind of hit a slump. The varsity
team wasnt as strong as it usually was, and we didnt have the
leadership. This year we came
back, trying to make a statement, and we did do that.
The only runner on the team
who had been to a state meet before was this years top runner,
junior captain Joost Plaetinck.

I went last year, and those

were awful conditions, there
was mud everywhere, Plaetinck said. I was looking forward to this year. Anything was
going to be better so I was really confident going in with how
the course would be.
At 2 p.m., the boys set out for
their 5K race. After finally having made it to states after so long,
some of the boys aimed high.
My only two goals at the
state meet were to get all-state,
and for our team to do well,
Plaetinck said. During the
race, all I focused on was being in an all state position. I
just kept pushing myself saying,
Youre not all state right now,
you have to keep going.
None of the other runners
had ever been to states before.
To be honest, it felt pretty
similar to every other meet we
had run at, Misko said.
But the closer we got to the
race, there was more intensity
between everybody who was
running. None of us had ever
run there, so it was like the climax
of our running careers so far.
The uncertainty of the meet
added to the pressure.
While we were on our way
up there I was just trying to
stay calm because I was really
nervous about the race, junior

Adam Ditri said. Once we started to race it wasnt that bad.

The weather didnt help.
It was really cold, Malapati
said.Weve never raced on on a
day that cold, and this was one
of the biggest meets weve ever
been to.
In the face of such difficulties, some runners relied on each
other to get through the race.
I was running with a lot of
my teammates, so that was helpful, sophomore John Landy
said. It was a little challenging
mentally being at such a big race,
but its a little better than running
next a kid in a random uniform.
Despite the teams hopes,
the guys dropped from their
seeding as sixth in the state, to
fifteenth by the end of the meet.
We kind of choked on this
last one, sophomore Scott
Macpherson said. To be honest, I dont know why. A couple
of our top guys were definitely
fighting injuries for the last
month, so they didnt run their
season PRs.
Malapati was injured early in
the season and was still recovering at the state meet.
I was thinking, this is my last
chance, he said. I guess I had a
little too much adrenaline going
through me, so I started really
fast. At the 1 mile mark I had a

really fast split, and then I started

dying because it was really hard.
This was the last meet for seniors.
It was kind of depressing,
I know the seniors had a tough
time accepting it. I have two more
years and we can still prove ourselves, but it was rough for all of
us, Macpherson said.
In spite of the teams misfortune, there was still some good
to come from the meet.
Even though we didnt place
as well, were still a really solid
team, and we have a lot of young
guys who gained the experience
of going to a meet like that,
Malapati said.
At the end of their last season, the seniors were able to
reflect on their experience
through the years.
I didnt see it at first, but
after a while I realized that we
really set the stage for teams of
the future, Misko said. We
were all hoping that when wed
be done, wed be able to look
back on it and smile and say it
was perfect, but thats not really
what we got.
In a sense, we all came to
realize later that we trained
hard enough that it didnt really
matter what the result was.

Captains
Corner
State Finals
Placement

Joost Plaetinck,
Junior, 13th

Sahisnu Malapati,
Senior, 114th

Nate Hall,
Senior, 149th

PAGE 7

SPORTS
NOVEMBER 2014
Inside

The

Huddle
Efe Edevbie
What Ill Miss About Football
There are only a couple of
things I have dedicated more
time to than football, like
sleeping or breathing. For five
years Ive gone through hundreds of practices, countless
off-season workouts and 42
games.
Now, all thats over. My
football careers done.
It sucks.
Sure, there are a couple
things I wont miss. I wont
miss not being able to feel my
legs after one of Coach Wills
lower body workouts or taking ice baths in Chases training room after practice.
I wont miss waking up at
6:00 a.m. freshman year for
two-a-days or having to ice
my degenerative knees before
practices or workouts.
I wont miss feeling like
passing out after the Confidence Course or dislocating
and jamming my fingers every year.
I wont miss wearing the
ugly green on green uniforms we had freshman year.
Those things were hideous.
I wont miss practicing in
late October, because honestly,
its hard not to feel like going inside every time cold air
passes by.
I definitely wont miss losing to Northville.
What I will miss is pretty
much everything else.
Ill miss packing all my
football gear together in an
extra backpack or bag Friday
mornings before my varsity
games, or packing everything
into an orange Nike shoebox before my JV games. Ill
miss staying after practice or
workouts to catch passes from
Rohit (and Bageris too) and
Coach Slater yelling at me to
work my craft.
Ill miss watching Coach
Burnside doing a 100-yard
bear crawl junior year, and
getting to replay it on Hudl.
Ill miss team dinners, equipment checkouts and cleaning
my dirty white Adidas cleats
with a toothbrush.
Ill miss being with my
teammates, my brothers. Ill
miss the stupid stuff wed argue about, and singing Party
in the USA with them after
every win. Yes, thats right,
Miley Cyruss Party in the
USA.
Ill miss jamming out to
the locker room stereo before
games and running through
Toms Tunnel before The
Star-Spangled Banner.
Ill miss JV year and starting off 7-0. That was fun.
Ill miss Coach Kreger
calling me Rooster Head
because I got a Mohawk, and
a few guys calling him Mr.
Clean because hes bald.
Ill miss coming in Sunday
nights to work out and break
down film. Well, I mean, Ill
kind of miss it.
Ill miss Coach O and him
using the phrase fortuitous
bounce. Or anything else he
did, because it was all pretty
hilarious.
Ill miss guys like Siri, D-Tez,
Wojo and E-Man because they
always found a way to keep
practices or meetings interesting. Ill miss all of the guys
being together, because theyre
like my family.
Ill miss every workout, every practice, every game and
every moment. Really.
I guess Ill miss a lot of
things about football.
But the memories I have
will last a lifetime.

Follow Roar Sports on Twitter:

@NoviRoarSports
Cameron Misko,
Senior, 175th

ATTENTION COACHES, CAPTAINS AND TEAMMATES: Do you have outstanding players? Email stats to oedevbie@novischools.net and they might get featured in the Top Performers section.