Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
SHELBY — For the second straight year, Shelby’s volleyball team relied on the dominance of Navea Gauthier and a boost from its student section to turn back North Muskegon in a key West Michigan Conference Rivers Division matchup.
Shelby swept visiting North Muskegon Tuesday night, 25-16, 25-19, 25-19, to move into the driver’s seat for the regular-season WMC Rivers title. Oct. 17 at rival Hart, the Tigers (19-10, 5-0 WMC Rivers) will look to wrap up the division and claim the No. 1 seed for the Oct. 21 WMC Rivers Tournament.
Last season, Shelby beat North Muskegon in the Norse gym en route to winning WMC Rivers regular season, tournament, and overall championships.
North Muskegon is now 12-8 overall and 4-1 in the WMC Rivers. The Norse close out the divisional schedule with a home match next Tuesday against Ravenna.
Here are more details and notables from Tuesday’s Shelby-North Muskegon match:
- Gauthier, a 6-foot-2 junior force who is committed to Ohio State University, totaled 30 kills, 16 digs, and eight aces for Shelby.
- Shelby senior setter Audrey Horton helped Gauthier in her dominant night. Horton finished with 32 assists to go along with eight digs.
- Shelby seniors Hannah Frees and Biloxi Lee added 16 and 10 digs, respectively, while senior Molli Schultz had nine digs.
- North Muskegon was led by Sami Baker, who totaled 20 assists and 17 digs.
- North Muskegon’s Isabella Fornaro had seven kills, while teammate Olivia Peterson notched six kills.
- North Muskegon’s Fia Lindsay had five kills and five aces.
- In addition to a strong student section for Shelby, the Tigers’ volleyball team also benefitted from the school’s pep band being in attendance and helping to generate noise and excitement.
