Nate Schneider
Sports Scene
Olivia Apple knew in August she had a good shot at breaking Alma High School’s all-time digs record at some point this season.
That day arrived Oct. 18 at Midland Bullock Creek.
Apple surpassed previous record holder Bailey McCarthy with the 1,565th dig of her career during the match, then added some more to up the new benchmark to 1,574 by the end of the night.
It was a momentous occasion for the four-year varsity performer, who has been a defensive stalwart as the Panthers have continually gotten better and better the last couple of seasons.
“It was definitely a surprise,” Apple said about breaking the record. “I had no idea. I felt very accomplished. It’s been something I’ve been working for a long time.”
Making it even more special is that she broke the record of McCarthy, who played volleyball at Alma through 2015 and is someone Apple greatly admired.
“Bailey was one of my role models and I really looked up to her,” Apple said. “I wanted to be her as a player. So it was pretty cool to break the record of someone who drove me to be as good as possible and work so hard for it.”
Apple and the rest of the Panthers have been coached the last two years by former Mount Pleasant varsity coach Kristi Lippert, who has helped Alma rise to a second straight strong season as it improved to 21-10-3 and 5-1 in the Tri-Valley Conference Central with the victory over Bullock Creek. The Panthers will be playing Swan Valley for second place in the TVC Central next week behind first-place Freeland.
Lippert managed to keep it a secret from Apple that she was closing in on the career digs record.
“She knew that if she had a year anywhere close to last year that she would do it,” Lippert explained. “But I did not tell her when she was getting close. I’m someone who would rather wait until it happens and then we can talk about it. So I didn’t tell her.
But my assistant coach and I have been talking about it and knew it would happen at Bullock Creek. We contacted Bullock Creek to let them know it was going to happen and they were really cool about stopping the match between sets to make the announcement. We brought a game ball to give her at the match. And we let her family know, so they could invite everyone who wanted to attend. It was a great moment for Olivia.”
As her coach the last two seasons, Lippert has seen up close what Apple brings to the table as a top-notch libero.
“She’s a defensive catalyst,” Lippert said. “She’s carries so much of our defensive burden. She’s a kid who doesn’t give up on a ball. She goes all out. She shows up day in and day out. She’s very consistent. She played defensive specialist her first two years instead of libero, so it limited her total digs. But last year in her first year as libero, she set the single-season digs record with 624 which McCarthy had held. She is just so quick to the ball and very instinctual.”
Another senior leader on Alma is setter Tia Everdeen, who is a tremendous soccer player and athlete but backed up Kenzie Seeley last year before emerging this season.
“Being a backup was difficult for Tia,” Lippert admitted. “As such a great athlete in multiple spots, I don’t think she’d been asked to do that before. But she accepted it and learned so much from Kenzie which she has carried with her this year. Our offense hasn’t skipped a beat with her setting for us.”
Also playing a significant role as seniors are defensive specialist Sam Mellinger, senior right side Marissa Smoker, defensive specialist Aubrie Dunlap and outside hitter Kemmie Shunk.
The Panthers will look to win a district title at Clare, one year after falling to Belding in their district opener.
“Winning a district title is a huge goal for us in our last year as seniors and it would be a big step forward for this program,” Apple added.