The Mattawan Wildcats earned their second district championship in three years with a sweep at Kalamazoo Central Thursday, 25-15, 25-17, 25-17. The Maroon Giants started hot, using energy from their large home crowd to begin the match 4-0. Down 8-4, the Wildcats got the serve to sophomore Natalie Foster and used numerous aces to go on a 10-0 run. Mattawan dominated the rest of the first set and remained in control through the second and third sets.
Unofficially, Taylor Rutgers tallied 13 kills for Mattawan, including the final kill. Foster had six kills and four aces. For Kalamazoo Central, Kennedy Livers had eight kills, followed by seven from Peri Herder.
The Maroon Giants finish at 34-16-1 and will graduate six seniors; Kennedy Kubiak, Herder, Livers, Josephine Fonger, Julia Naranjo, and Talia Edmonds. Meanwhile Mattawan, which has zero seniors on the squad, improves to 39-7 overall. The Wildcats head to the Regional semifinal Tuesday at St. Johns to face DeWitt, ranked fourth in the final Class A Coaches Poll.
Listen back to the district final below: