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Sports

Alli Costine Signs Letter to Play Volleyball at Macomb

The Trojans senior agrees to play volleyball at Macomb on Thursday morning.

Alli Costine won’t be a Trojan for much longer. 

The senior signed a national letter of intent to play volleyball at Macomb College on Thursday.  

“It’s exciting,” Costine said. “I wasn’t expecting so many people to be here. I’m a little nervous.”

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A crowd of about 20 people including Costine’s family and friends, school officials, Trojans volleyball coach Amy Reaume and Monarchs head coach Holly Plieth were all on hand for the signing in the Clawson High School Media Center.

Plieth was excited to see Costine put her name on the dotted line and make her addition to the Macomb College volleyball team official. In Costine, Plieth feels she’s getting a consistent player who can eventually be a strong leader on the Monarchs’ squad.

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“I noticed, first of all, her athletic ability, she has really solid fundamental skills on the court,” Plieth said. “She’s also a really good leader, I saw her communicating with the other players. She’s extremely positive, picking other players up. I think she has a lot to contribute attitude wise and skill wise.” 

Costine went into the year thinking she’d be heading out of state for college, but playing volleyball was always a priority. With the kind of commitment sports at the college level requires, she decided staying closer to home would make that transition easier.

During the recruiting process, Costine visited practice at Macomb College and met the team. She really liked coach Plieth and was impressed with the talent level on the court.

“The skill level, I wasn’t expecting it to be so different than high school,” Costine said. “The whole program is different, they have different coaches for different players – setting coach, hitting coach. I’m not used to that.”

Costine said one of the things that she noticed right away was how fast the game was, even at practice.

“It’s a lot faster of a game for the kids to keep up with (in college),” Plieth said. “The passing is a lot faster, the setting, the tempo of the game is a lot faster.” 

The Monarchs finished in third place in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association Eastern Conference with a 19-14 record overall and 9-5 in the conference. 

Costine will try to quickly step in and contribute. The senior played on the varsity team for three years with the Trojans and she will have a chance at Macomb to play sooner rather than later.

“Everybody has a chance to earn playing time,” Plieth said. “I definitely think she’ll have the opportunity to play.”

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