CLASS D
The dynasty continues for Battle Creek’s St. Philip Catholic, which took its seventh straight Class D title and 18th overall crown. The Tigers ended the season at 73-2-1 and victimized Beal City, which ended its season at 45-11-1.
Amanda McKinzie, Miss Volleyball, had 19 kills and nine digs for St. Philip, while Sierra Hubbard-Neil followed with 18 kills and four digs. Lenae Lesiow added 32 assists for the champs.
“I was really proud of the way the girls played,” said first-year Beal City coach Kelly David. “They did everything we asked them to. St. Philip, I thought we played them very well.”
Beal City had a big day from Addie Schumacher, who had seven kills and five digs. Jade Kennedy had 23 assists.
Kennedy was impressed with St. Philip’s hitting.
“We usually have a real good blocking team,” Kennedy said. “We knew we had to play our best to beat them. We played our hardest.”
“I thought we played our hearts out,” said Beal City’s Monica David, a senior middle blocker. We stayed with them. They got their runs and I thought that made the difference. Everyone worked hard out there and did a great job.”
In the first game, Beal City sent a message to St. Philip, playing even with the defending state champs before losing 25-21. The Tigers won the next two 25-15, 25-18.
“They hit around the block really well,” Beal City senior Mikayla Jones said. “I think we did our best at the net.”
“They all hit hard,” Schumacher said of St. Philip. “I think a lot of teams could [play well] against them if they weren’t so intimidated.”
“Our strategy was to take out their best hitters, which was their outside hitters, and make sure we got a double block on them,” Monica David said. “I thought we did a great job and played really hard.”
“They can hit pretty much anywhere,” Kelly David said. “We knew we had to pass really well and serve receive. We just had to keep running our offense.”
It was Beal City’s first time in the state finals.
“At the beginning of the year, when we had a new coach we were hoping we’d have a good season,” Kennedy said. “Our coach told us we could go to state finals. Then we won a couple of tournaments and realized how good we were.
“[Coach David] taught us so much. She was a setter like I am. She taught me a lot too.”
“Next year, there’s four seniors leaving and I think we’ll do just fine,” said junior Melanie Schafer. “This season, we had good team chemistry and had a lot of fun together.”
CLASS A
Macomb’s Dakota High School made the most of its first appearance in the state Class A volleyball finals with a 25-22, 25-21, 26-24 sweep over Bedford at Battle Creek on November 17.
Dakota hitter Carli Snyder was virtually unstoppable with 31 kills, the most in the finals since 2005. She was responsible for 35 points and 14 digs. “I try to hit depending on where the block or where I saw the defense was shifting,” she said.
Megan Manuerski led the Dakota offense with 42 assists. Megan Downey had 19 digs.
“I’m so excited for the girls,” said coach Tracie Ferguson. “They’re so competitive in practice. That showed up on the court.”
Dakota didn’t lose a set in the tournament and ended its season at 59-5 while Bedford finished at 65-13-3.
Kayla Gwozdz had 14 kills while Nicole Rightnowar added 11 for Bedford, which netted 37 assists from MacKenzie Andres.
CLASS C
St. Mary Catholic Central won its fourth state title and recovered from the sting of a 3-2 loss to Morley Stanwood in the 2011 championship match. St. Mary beat St. Francis in the first game 25-14, then lost 26-24 before dominating the next two games 25-10 and 25-9.
St. Mary ended the season at 49-6. St. Francis, making its first state final appearance, finished at 49-6.
“The seniors gave it all they had last year as juniors, so I’m happy for them,” said St. Mary coach Diane Tuller.
Cassandra Haut led St. Mary with 16 kills, while Clare McMillian had 46 assists and Kelsey Geiman had 12 aces.
“We always knew she [Geiman] had a good serve,” said Tuller. “We struggled early in the year with her passing and hitting. Her twin sister [Katie] was competing in that spot. She’s been playing really well.”