Senior headed to Virginia Tech next fall
NORTH BRANCH -- By Michael Selecky:
Having just signed her national letter of intent to attend Virginia Tech last Friday, Lady Broncos senior volleyball player Jordan Fish was awash in the pressures of the postseason when a short but welcome respite from it all came Monday in the form of this year’s Miss Volleyball award.
Fish won the coveted award which is given to the top senior player in the state and is sponsored by The Detroit Free Press.
“I’m really excited about all of it. It’s really nice. This is something I wanted and hoped for, but I guess it never hit me until today,” Fish said. “It’s a little bit overwhelming, but I’m really happy about all of it. It’s been a really great couple weeks. I don’t think it’s going to affect me come game time because this is all really nice, but we’ve been focusing on the quarter and state finals for a while now, so I don’t think any of that’s going to change. This is extremely nice, everything that’s happening, but we want a state title. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Of the 10 finalists for this award, Fish took the accolade with 163 points, a mark Alexandra Lovell of Marian just missed at 129. With fellow Lady Bronco Catherine Brusie placing sixth with a score of 57, coming in third with 114 was Portage Central’s Taylor Galloway, Marian’s Alessandra Dietz was fourth at 83 and finishing fifth with 74 was Ryian Hubbard of Battle Creek St. Philip.
“I’m a proud dad. I’m more concerned with our team right now. This comes at a time when we’re trying to accomplish a team goal, so that’s our main focus,” said North Branch and athletic director coach Jim Fish. “This is nice. We’ll celebrate it right now, but as soon as this is over we’re on to the next thing. We’ll maybe celebrate this again some other time, but it’s more about the team. We’re playing the most storied program in the state of Michigan and we’re going to have to play well. I’m always confident because it’s a game, so if we lose, the sun will still come up tomorrow. You come back and life goes on. We’re never nervous going in. We just want to compete to the best of our ability and whatever happens, happens. We’re just going to do the very best we can.”
In her time with the Lady Broncos, Fish started all four years of her career with the varsity, earning first-team Tri-Valley Conference-East accolades from 2008-10 en route to last year’s Class B state team title. Having also gone 283-19-3 with four undefeated league championships to her credit, Fish managed 1,114 digs, 3,045 assists and 1,182 kills as a prep phenom, feats she complemented with 276 career aces and First-Team All-State honors in 2008 and ’09.
“A second straight state title would mean everything because it’s what we really strive for and if you’re the last team standing it shows you were the very best team you can be, and that’s what we want to be, the very best we can. That’s the ultimate, so individual honors are nice, but team honors are much more important and much more memorable for the kids,” said Jim Fish. “I’m proud of all my kids and the school system because we stand for excellence. North Branch allows all programs to strive to be the very best.”
Also in attendance for the event were Perry Farrell of The Detroit Free Press, Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association Miss Volleyball Chairperson Jennifer Thunberg and North Branch Superintendent Tom English.
“I’m impressed beyond belief basically how well this program has done over time. You have to give a lot of credit to the team, as well as the coaches. They’ve really worked with a lot of kids over a lot of years and I see the fruits of their efforts really paying off,” said English. “Of course today is wonderful to honor Jordan Fish, who I think represents the work ethic of the team. I talked to a fellow superintendent this morning and he was quite impressed, as well, so it’s a great source of pride for our district.”
Most recently, Fish, a 2010 All-State nominee, and her Lady Broncos teammates beat Durand last Thursday for the No. 13-B Yale regional title, 25-13, 23-25, 25-16, 25-12. Next up for North Branch was the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep No. 7-B quarterfinals against Marysville yesterday after we went to press. The winner of that contest will then go up against the champion of the Milan No. 6-B regional featuring Livonia Ladywood and DeWitt on Thursday at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek at 5:30 p.m. in the semifinals.
