John Raffel
Sports Scene
Randy Gallagher liked what he saw with the 2011 Beal City volleyball team.
He could only imagine what the case might have been if the Aggies were a Class D school rather than a Class C.
With 216 students, Beal City barely squeaks into the Class C classification. But that’s where the Aggies found themselves, and they still came away with a Class C district title.
A very tough match for the Aggies was the district opener at Carson City-Crystal against St. Louis with a 16-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-23 victory. From there, the Aggies posted wins over CC-Crystal and Ithaca to claim the title.
Next up was Morley Stanwood, which went on to win the state title. The Mohawks prevailed over the Aggies 25-22, 25-17, 25-13.
The Aggies’ final record was 47-5. It’s the second best record, behind only the 2009 team that was in the semis and won 49 games.
Gallagher has coached the last five seasons. “I think this team was better, one through 11,” Gallagher said. “Two things you have to remember is we were Class D before, and we didn’t have to run up against Morley Stanwood in the regional.”
Gallagher said his team met its expectations, which were high.
“I knew we had some young kids and a sophomore middle blocker and a sophomore in the back row we brought up,” Gallagher said.”We had three or four kids that got better from beginning to end.”
Heather Griffis was in her third varsity season.
“She was the face of the Aggies,” Gallagher said. “I told her that great players make the players around you better. She did that this year. That made her better. She’s one of the best players I’ve had the pleasure of coaching. If she was taller, she’d be a DI player for sure.
“Sam Freeze was a perfect example of a kid working her butt off during the off-season. Last year, she didn’t care too much with her offense. She was more of a blocker. This year, she blossomed into more of an offensive threat for us.”
Monica David was a junior middle blocker for the Aggies.
“She got better as the year went along,” Gallagher said. “It’s the third David I’d had on my team, and all have been on the varsity since their sophomore year. She’s a good athlete. She’s undersized to play middle but got by because of her athleticism.”
Jade Kennedy was a junior setter in her second year starting on the varsity.
“She blossomed in understanding the game of volleyball. She was good in finding those matchups and working them out.”
Melanie Schafer and Addie Shoemaker were also key players. Shoemaker played middle as a sophomore.
“Her potential is unlimited,” Gallagher said. “The sky is the limit. She has the potential to be one of the best volleyball players to come out of Beal.”
Seven players return next season.
“I would not be surprised to see us go back to D,” Gallagher said. “We were the last school in. We had our biggest freshman class. That put us over the hump. But that’s OK. We play in a dominant Class C league [Highland]. We’ve had three teams from our conference in the semifinals the last few years.”
Beal City set a school record with its fourth straight Highland Conference title.
Griffis, a senior, has been on the varsity since her sophomore season. She also played on the semifinal team.
“We had good chemistry this season,” Griffis said. “We won five of the tournaments we played. We beat Mount Pleasant the second time we played them. We were excited about that. We also beat St. Louis twice.”
Griffis was an outside hitter.
“My passing was better and my hitting improved,” she said. “Our goal is to win conference when we started. We were excited about that. We tried to get as far as we could in the tournament.”
Griffis also plays basketball and softball. But she’ll miss high school volleyball, which she indicated is her best sport. She’ll play at St. Clair Community College next season.
“I won’t be with the same people,” she said of Beal City. “We had a fun team.”
Freeze played a right hitter in her second season.
“I thought a lot of our success was because of our chemistry. We got along very well and worked well together,” Freeze said. “One of the highlights was winning the conference championship against Pine River. Another was beating Pine River during the regular season. They’re always tough. In the district finals, we beat Ithaca and the district win over St. Louis were big ones.”
Freeze took pride in hitting around or through the blockers.
“I think my setting got a lot better,” she said. “I’m our back-up setter. Throughout the season, My setting improved a lot.”
Freeze also plays softball.