St. Philip Catholic Central made it eight straight Class D state volleyball championships with a 3-0 sweep over Our Lady of the Lakes in Battle Creek on Nov. 23. The streak matches Marysville’s eight-year streak in Class B from 1997 through 2004.
Sierra Hubbard-Neil had 19 kills and Emily Schaub had 26 assists for St. Philip in the 25-12, 25-22, 25-19 victory.
“We had all new players, with seven we lost last year, including six starters,” noted St. Philip coach Vickey Groat, who in 16 years as coach of the Tigers, has a 909-177-16 mark. “I’m so proud of this group. They took on all doubters. People were saying we couldn’t win it this year because of what we lost. We all believed in each other, came out and played their hearts out.”
Groat said it was an honor to have matched Marysville’s streak. “They’ve always had a wonderful program,” she said. “It’s special. I wanted this one so bad for these girls.”
Courtney Wightman led Our Lady of the Lakes with 11 kills, while Allison Samulon added seven. Kali Bagley had 22 assists.
St. Philip’s season ends at 64-7-2, while the Lakers call it a season at 41-6-6.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t bring our best game, because we’re a better team than that,” said Lakers’ coach Stephanie Swearingen. “Serve receive we had a few issues with. Think we were a little intimidated. But we stepped up in game 2. It was a good fight.”
Hubbard-Neil was definitely a thorn in Our Lady’s side. “It surprised me to play someone at that level,” said Swearingen. “She’s relentless with her attacks. We did try to make some adjustments with our backs and defense, too.”
“It’s like your home crowd here,” Hubbard-Neil said. “It’s nice when people come out to support you.”
She’ll miss being at St. Philip, but “I won’t be far from home, since I’m going to Western,” she said. “So I can see them.”
It was not just Hubbard-Neil who led St Philip to another title. “It’s the girls,” Groat said. “All 13 of them work hard in practice and work hard in the game.”
CLASS A
East Grand Rapids hit the 50-win mark at the right time. The Pioneers’ 3-0 sweep of Marian in the Class A title match pushed them to that point. The scores were 25-22, 25-22, 25-20. The Pioneers ended their season at 50-5-3. Marian took home the runner-up trophy at 51-16.
For East Grand Rapids, Caroline Knooihuizen had 15 kills and nine digs; Jane Goodspeed added five kills and six digs; Jordan Clappson had nine kills and five digs; Zoe Macartney contributed four kills and three blocks; Maeve McDonald had eight kills, 27 assists, and 13 digs; and Jamie Wolffis had 14 digs.
CLASS B
Notre Dame Preparatory prevailed for the Class B title with a 3-1 victory over Grand Rapids South Christian. Notre Dame took the first two games 25-15, 25-19, while South Christian won the third game 25-19. Notre Dame came back in the fourth game 25-23.
Final season records were 47-11-1 for Notre Dame and 61-3-1 for South Christian.
For Notre Dame, Hannah Antosz contributed 20 assists and six digs, Ellen Guerra had five kills and six digs, Ashley Knutson recorded 36 assists, Katherine Carlson had 13 digs, Dani McCormick added seven digs, Emma Kowalkowski had 20 digs, and Bella Bucchi added 17 digs.