sports

Frankel Volleyball Team Gets ‘A’ for Effort

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

J

oe Bernstein has been coach of the
Frankel Jewish Academy volleyball
team for three years.
This year’s team didn’t have the over-
all talent or depth of the previous two
teams. But it had an enormous amount
of heart and resolve.
“I told the girls that it was important
for them to give it all they had in each
match, and that’s exactly what they did,”
Bernstein said. “We just didn’t have a lot
of depth. We had to worry about inju-
ries and illness, and playing a match in
a 95-degree gym.”
After winning 13 matches each of
the previous two seasons, the Jaguars
were 11-6 this season. They saved their
best for last, taking a strong Southfield
Christian team to three sets in a district
semifinal before losing.
Five Frankel players earned Catholic
League post-season honors.
Senior Lauren Levitt was named All-
Catholic. She was a two-year starter for
the Jaguars after transferring to Frankel

as a sophomore.
Senior Ruby Ruben was all-league.
After not seeing much action as a junior,
the third-year Frankel player became a
key contributor to the team this season.
“Ruby was a bundle of energy,”
Bernstein said.
Levitt and Ruben were versatile play-
ers, helping Frankel at several positions.
Junior outside hitter Aviva Lupovitch
and sophomore back row player
Hannah Resnick earned all-league hon-
orable mention.
Lupovitch, a three-year Frankel player,
is a two-year starter.
Bernstein said Resnick was the team’s
most improved player this season.
“Hannah went from hardly playing at
all (as a freshman) to hardly getting off the
court,” the coach said. “By the end of this
season, she was our best server. She was
very consistent with her serve and oppos-
ing teams noticed, especially when she
was reeling off 13, 14, 15 points in a row.”
Junior setter Stephanie Snover was

Army hockey player Joe
Shecter from Farmington
Hills has played in 15
games this season.

named All-Academic.
Bernstein said Snover was very deserv-
ing of the honor because of her challeng-
ing academic load. Snover was the start-
ing setter on the Frankel junior varsity
team as a freshman and she was the var-
sity starter the last two seasons.
It’s not unusual for a volleyball team’s
setter to be a standout in the classroom.
The position is akin to a quarterback
in football or point guard in basketball
and requires mental as well as physical
acumen.
Bernstein is in his fourth year as a
teacher at Frankel. He teaches U.S. his-
tory for sophomores and Advanced
Placement U.S. history for sophomores
through seniors.
“I teach about 95 percent of the kids
at our school, so I know most of our vol-
leyball players outside of volleyball,” he
said. “Besides working hard in volleyball,
this year’s team was a bunch of nice girls,
great representatives of our school and
Jewish community.”
Also on the Frankel volleyball team
this season were Anna Weinbaum,
Alexis Morton, Yael Elrom, Hannah
Gorman, Julia Klein, Adina Robbins,
Mackenzie Morton, Emile Weingarden
and Emily Feldman.

NOT AN AVERAGE JOE
Joe Shecter assisted on the Army hockey
team’s lone goal in a 4-1 loss to No.
10-ranked Minnesota on Dec. 30. It was
the third point of the season for the
5-foot-11, 190-pound senior defenseman
from Farmington Hills and his 11th in
an Army sweater.
With Army down 4-0 midway through
the third period, Shecter’s shot from the
blue line got through to the Minnesota
net. Army’s John Laurito got a piece of
the puck, which went to goal-scorer
Brendan Soucie.

Dedicated to the
academic and social
success of 6th-12th
grade students with
language-based
learning differences,
including autism,
anxiety disorders,
and attention
defi cits.

Shecter had one goal, two assists and
eight shots on goal in 15 games this sea-
son as of the end of last weekend.

MACCABI TRYOUTS
Tryouts continue for Detroit athletes who
want to compete Aug. 5-10 in the JCC
Maccabi Games & ArtsFest in Orange
County, Calif.
Baseball tryouts will be at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 18, in the JCC gym in West
Bloomfield.
Ice hockey will be at 12:15 p.m.,
Sunday, Jan. 21, at the Farmington Hills
Ice Arena.
ArtsFest, flag football, lacrosse, table
tennis and tennis will be at 7 p.m.,
Thursday, Jan. 25, in the conference cen-
ter at the JCC.
Soccer, swimming, track and field and
volleyball will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb.
1, in the conference center at the JCC.
Maccabi Games participants must
be between ages 13 and 16 by July 31.
ArtsFest participants must be between
ages 13 and 17 by July 31.
ArtsFest specialties are Acting/Improv,
Dance, Musical Theater, Rock Band, Star
Reporters, Visual Arts and Vocal Music/
Glee.
Scholarships are available.
For more information, contact Detroit
delegation heads Karen Gordon or Franci
Silver at karengordon44@icloud.com or
francisilver27@gmail.com, or go to www.
maccabidetroit.com.
Gordon is coaching the U.S. girls basket-
ball team that will compete in the inau-
gural International Maccabi Youth Games
from July 23 to Aug. 1 in Israel.
Athletes born in 2002, 2003 and 2004
are eligible. Contact Gordon at her email
address or (248) 561-3329. •

Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

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January 18 • 2018

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