Watervliet Press Box

Volleyball set for playoff run

The Panther varsity volleyball team hosted Kalamazoo Christian and Martin, the top teams from the SAC Valley and SAC Central divisions on Tuesday, Oct. 17. The winner of the mini-tournament gets bragging rights, but no hardware, as the top team in the SAC. That’s no small brag as two SAC teams fought for regional titles the last two seasons and one of them was the runner-up in the Division 3 finals. This season could see two SAC teams with separate regional titles.

Back to the present, the Lady Panthers had little trouble with 19-2 Martin last month and similarly had little trouble with them last week. Watervliet took control of both games early and cruised to 25-14 wins in both games. Martin then faced that 2022 state finals runner-up in Kalamazoo Christian and took two more losses, 25-18 and 25-14.

That set up a rematch of the 2022 regional finals at Coloma, and the 2021 regional finals at Centreville. The Panthers took charge in the first game while playing well and defending the powerful KC Comet attacks and serves to win 25-21, despite a late KC rally.

Game two was a long battle as the Panthers found themselves down 17-9, and later 22-17. They fought back to 23-21 and then stayed close before falling 29-27. Watervliet took a 4-1 lead in the last game before Kalamazoo Christian went on a 7-0 run. The game was again close the entire way but the KC Comets were just a little better on this night and won 16-14. It was quite a match, with two of the games going into extra points.

There were plenty of long rallies and well-defended attacks on both sides. The Panthers don’t have a dominant hitter but they make up for it with good attacks from everywhere on the court. The loss breaks a 19-match winning streak but gives the team a good taste of the upcoming playoffs. They played on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at Dowagiac in a meet featuring all Division 2 opponents, including Hopkins and Lakeshore.

The postseason opens against Coloma on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at Coloma and then the winner will face Hartford, Bangor, or Bloomingdale for the district title on Nov. 2 in Coloma. The regional tournament will be held in Fennville on Tuesday, Nov. 7 with the finals on Thursday.

Cross ready for regionals

The Panther high school cross-country teams closed two weeks of training with their best team performance of the season last weekend. They ran through the cold rain and a muddy course at the Comet Invitational in Kalamazoo on Saturday, Oct. 21, a late-season tune-up prior to regionals, featuring 15 teams. Danny Mandujano (16:28) took third place in a field of 169, just six seconds behind the winner. The next Panther men across the finish line also set new PRs as Luke Isbrecht (19:21) and Zeke Cardozo (19:56) ran hard to take 69th and 95th places. Alex Sexton (20:30) ran a season best time while Devin Geisler (20:35) was close behind, Grayson Richards (20:38) right on his heels.

Mandujano’s time moves him up to second place in the Watervliet record book, a scant 2.3 seconds behind Brendan Daly at Portage in 2015. It also ties him with Tim Lynch, who ran 16:28 in 1977 in a three mile race in the pre-historic pre-metric days. Note that a 5k race (current length) is 188 yards longer than a three mile race.

The Panther girls also had several good performances last weekend. Morgan Lowell (20:34) finished ninth in a field of 154 runners, setting a new PR. Kimmy Romero (22:02) earned a medal as well, finishing 28th. Mimi Feneley, Marissa Lowell, Johanna Granados, Hailey Adams, McKenna Kirksey, Abbie Hayes, Amara Olexa, and Hanna Lomoro all ran their fastest races of the season.

Morgan’s time moves her to third on the girls’ all-time list. The record was set in 2012 when Gabby Tavolacci ran 19:11 at the state finals.

The teams run at the regional meet in Portage on Saturday, Oct. 28.

Football season finale

The 2023 Panther varsity football season came to a close on Friday when they lost to Allegan, 36-16. Allegan used a strong ground game to take a 22-0 lead into halftime. The Panthers made adjustments and came back playing hard in the second half with short touchdown runs by Owen Epple and Carson Underwood. Unfortunately, their comeback was cut short by costly turnovers and the Tigers added a couple scores late to put the game out of reach.

Underwood led the running attack with 65 yards on 12 carries. Wyatt Epple ran for 49 yards on seven carries, and Owen Epple had 25 yards on ten tough carries.

Conference teams making the post season include South Haven (6-3) playing Berrien Springs (5-3) in Division 5, Constantine hosting Olivet and Buchanan hosting Kalamazoo United in Division 6, and Schoolcraft playing at Lawton in Division 7. Dates and times for those games had not been announced at press time.