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Marlette and Brown City both won Class C District championships last Saturday and will collide in the Regional semifinals at Ubly High School. After the Lady Raiders take on the Lady Green Devils at 10:00 a.m., host Ubly tangles with No. 3 ranked Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central in the 11:30 a.m. semifinal match. The title match is set to go at approximately 1:00 p.m.

Brown City (30-16-4) has not beaten a Marlette team in awhile, including dropping both GTC East matches to the Lady Raiders (46-12-4) this season.

Coach Dennis Sidebottom of BC, though, believes his team is ready for the challenge.

“Our kids have a pretty unusual attitude,” relayed Sidebottom. “We’ve lost to Marlette a number of times, but one of the reasons they wanted to win Districts is that they wanted one more chance (at Marlette), and they’ve got it.”

Both teams have a dominant hitter up front. Jenna Lange, a 6’1” junior and a third-year starter, leads the Lady Raiders at the net. Meanwhile, Deanna Welch, a rangy 6’0” senior, has turned in an outstanding season for the Lady Devils. BC is coming into the Regional off one of their best all-around performances, their District win at Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest. Marlette, meanwhile, looked sharp on their home floor on Saturday, which included a win over a strong New Lothrop team.

Fred McDowell, who guided the Lady Raiders to their first Regional championship a year ago, says his team will not be peaking past the Lady Devils.

“Were not going to look at that second match, I can tell you that,” said McDowell. “We just want to play the kind of game we played (last) Saturday.

“I’ve never looked past Brown City in my five years here. They’ve never been a team you could take for granted.”

Both coaches agree that the Regional is a tough one, especially with Nouvel (53-7-1). The Cougars have a tall, athletic team led by 6’4” Rebekkah Rapin, who played the post on the State championship basketball team this fall. Marlette, however, did beat Nouvel very early in the season when several of the Cougars that played on the basketball team had less than a week of practice.

“They will be much better than they were then,” warned McDowell.

McDowell and Sidebottom, though, like the representation of the GTC East in this Regional. Ubly (44-7) took first place, Marlette was second and BC finished third.

“I think that speaks to the strength of the GTC, and that’s just not the East, either,” noted Sidebottom. Cass City, a member of the GTC West, won a Class B Regional on Saturday.

McDowell added, “I think anybody in the tournament could win this. It’s who comes to play.”

The Ubly Regional champion will advance to the Class C Quarterfinal at Troy Athens on Tuesday, March 13. The State Semifinals and Finals will be held March 15-17 at University Arena in Kalamazoo.