Madison 3-Sporter Wall Soars in Every Season
January 25, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
ADRIAN – How good of a senior year is Kaiya Wall having?
In the fall, Wall again earned all-state honors after leading Adrian Madison to 47 victories, conference and District championships, and she signed a letter of intent to play Division I volleyball after high school.
This winter, her Madison basketball team is 8-0, ranked among the state’s 10 best Division 3 teams by The Associated Press and sitting atop the Tri-County Conference.
What’s more amazing is her best might still be yet to come. Wall figures to be an anchor on a Madison girls track squad that has won 87 consecutive Tri-County Conference dual meets and could be an MHSAA title contender this spring.
“I don’t know if she has a ‘best’ sport,” said Madison track coach Josh Powers. “She is pretty darn good at all three she is playing.”
Wall is one of those rare athletes who can jump from sport to sport without skipping a beat. In the summer, she would split time between summer basketball and travel volleyball.
She is the third-leading scorer on Madison’s undefeated basketball team heading into tonight’s TCC clash with Ottawa Lake Whiteford. She also is one of top defenders on a suffocating Trojans defense giving up just 24.3 points per game. Three of Madison’s last four opponents have been held to 20 or fewer points.
Wall missed basketball season last year due to an injury, but her return this year has solidified the Trojans on the court.
“Kaiya has made a tremendous impact on our team this season,” Madison basketball coach Rick McNeil said. “She is very quick and has become an outstanding defender.”
Wall also has improved on the offensive end. McNeil said that has been the biggest difference for her.
“She has developed her ball handling skills, and we are able to move her to the guard position where she is a match-up problem for many teams because of her height and speed,” McNeil said. “She is an excellent passer and has the ability to hit the perimeter shot.”
Playing volleyball in college was far from a slam dunk decision. She also was recruited for track.
“I struggled deciding between track and volleyball,” Wall said. “I’ve gone on visits for both. I knew I wanted to play something in college. When I fell in love with that campus, I just decided I wanted to play volleyball.”
Wall was the Lenawee County volleyball player of the year as a junior and has earned second-team all-state honors three years running. She finished her career just shy of 2,000 kills and signed to play collegiately at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi.
During her career she played in 545 sets, compiling 1,986 kills, 933 digs and 280 blocks – strong numbers for a girl who didn’t play competitive volleyball until seventh grade and only after friends talked her into it.
“I was terrible,” she said. “I was this tall, skinny girl, and they were like, ‘OK, you can play.’”
Her friends made a smart choice. Wall blossomed into a 5-foot-11 outside hitter.
“When I first met Kaiya, she was very raw with so much natural athleticism,” said Kathy Albers, now the head coach at Ypsilanti Lincoln who at one time coached Wall in travel volleyball. “She just needed to be taught and for someone to believe in her – but push her. After her first year of club with us, the talent was so apparent.
“She improved so much faster than most. Her height plus her jumping ability makes her tough at the net, and her quickness makes up for everything else.”
At Madison, Wall played for Dawn Opsal for her first three years and Kelsey Cortright this past season. Cortright stepped into the Madison job and saw first-hand Wall’s athleticism and leadership ability.
“Most importantly, she puts her team before herself,” Cortright said. “She is selfless and encouraging to all those around her, making her a role model for others both on and off the court. Outside of her abilities as a team leader, her athletic ability is remarkable.”
Jackson State coaches noticed that ability before ever seeing her in person. They found out about her by viewing a highlight video she had posted online. They reached out, and she went to Mississippi for a visit and fell in love with the campus and volleyball program.
Another criteria that helped her choose Jackson State was its academics. Wall has a 3.93 grade-point average and ranks 12th in her senior class at Madison.
“I plan on going into pre-med,” she said. “I want to be a trauma surgeon. They have a very good program.”
Had she not become enamored with the volleyball program, she might have been a track signee.
Wall won the Division 3 Finals 100-meter hurdles title as a freshman. As a sophomore she helped Madison win the team championship by finishing second in the high jump. Last year she was ninth in the high jump, second in the 100 hurdles and on the runner-up 1,600 relay team as the Trojans placed seventh as a team.
Powers, who will be inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame next week in Lansing, said Wall is determined.
“She takes advice and works on it,” he said. “I am, and I think she is, expecting her best track season yet.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Adrian Madison’s Kaiya Wall works to deflect a shot this season against Clinton. (Middle) Wall serves during a Division 3 Volleyball Semifinal in 2016.
Zeinstra Finishing 4-Year Byron Center Run Among School's All-Time Greats
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
February 15, 2024
BYRON CENTER – As an incoming freshman four years ago, Lily Zeinstra was immediately thrust into a starting role on the Byron Center varsity girls basketball team.
While it was an overwhelming experience, Zeinstra embraced the opportunity, and believes the early demands placed on her helped pave the way for what has become an outstanding high school career – and spot among the best in school history.
“My freshman year was scary,” she said. “Just coming in and starting on varsity. And in our first game, I had to guard Jillian Brown from East Grand Rapids, who was a really good player. I feel I was pushed into a big role on our team at a really early age, but I think that has helped me over the last four years to develop into the player I am today.”
Now a senior standout, the 5-foot-11 Zeinstra has been a mainstay in the Bulldogs’ starting line-up throughout while helping lead the program to four years of success.
She recently became the school’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing 1,500 points for her career.
“I have to give credit to my teammates,” Zeinstra said. “Through the years I've been in different scoring positions, but I've always been on a team that has trusted me with the ball in tight game scenarios.
“I’ve been told by my coaches since I was younger that I'm a scorer and they need me to score, and that's been my role so I feel like scoring all those points is what I needed to do to help our team win. That’s the most important part.”
Zeinstra, who committed to Division I Butler University last spring, has been the focal point every season and has enjoyed her role as a team leader. Byron Center (14-4) is a combined 68-14 over her four seasons.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot about being a leader and having different roles that I can have on teams,” she said. “Coming in freshman year, my job was to work hard and I was one of the top defenders, so I was guarding the other teams’ best players.
“As years went on, our team lacked numbers so I became more of a scorer, especially last year. I worked on posting up down low and scoring all around the basket, and this year even more trying to further my game and score better. I'm playing college basketball next year, and that’s what they need me to do.”
Zeinstra also had the opportunity to play two years at Byron Center with her older sister, Avery, who plays now at Grand Valley State.
“I feel like I didn’t enjoy it enough when I was in it with her,” Zeinstra said. “But I loved her class so much. There were two other seniors who she played with all four years, and they were big leaders and taught me about the culture here at Byron Center. I really enjoyed playing with them.”
Zeinstra is averaging 25 points per game this season and had a career-high 39 points against Grandville in late December.
First-year Byron Center coach Cam Burns, who replaced longtime program leader Jen Slot, knew all about Zeinstra before being hired.
“I saw her on the AAU circuit and I watched her play for a couple years, and I have friends who spoke highly of her,” Burns said. “When I got the job I wanted to check her out, and I saw her pace and how she plays the game was very special.”
Burns said Zeinstra possesses unwavering confidence and the ability to score several ways.
That mentality has come from countless hours in the gym and a strong work ethic.
“She’s one of the hardest working kids in practice, and she just wants it,” he said. “And she’s a sponge, always looking at different skills and movements to try and get a better look at the rim.
“And it’s about the time and effort she puts into the little details. She makes plays, and I’m not surprised when I see something from her on the court when others are taken back by it. She continues to show why she is so good.”
The adjustment period for Zeinstra was difficult at the onset of this season.
She was getting accustomed to a new coach, as well as a new group of varsity players after the loss of several seniors.
“It was hard at the beginning because I had been running Coach Slot’s plays and offense for three years, and I knew what to expect going into every game and every practice,” Zeinstra said. “When Coach Burns came in, he brought a different vibe and a different culture, and it was the first year I had to get used to playing with new players and a new coach. I was learning things all over again.”
Zeinstra has adapted well to her new surroundings.
“It’s been going pretty good, and we had a couple big wins last week and we are in first place in our conference,” she said. “We should be able to pull another conference championship out – fingers crossed.”
The Bulldogs are chasing their fourth straight conference championship and have a one-game lead entering Friday’s Ottawa-Kent Conference White game against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. Their only conference loss was against Forest Hills Northern.
“It would be such a great accomplishment to win another one,” Zeinstra said. “We have had this winning culture in our program for so long, and with getting a new coach I was worried we were going to lose some of that. But I really feel like this team is buying into everything that Coach is saying and we are finally putting the pieces together and starting to win some big games.”
After a rocky start, Byron Center has adjusted well to its new coach and made giant strides. The Bulldogs dropped their first two games of the season to East Kentwood and reigning Division 1 champion Rockford, but since have won 13 of their last 15 games.
“We started out 0-2 against two of the top teams in the state, and it was just learning a new system and a new process and feeling each other out,” Burns said. “As weeks have gone by, they are starting to trust in each other and trust me. They’ve started to trust in the process.
“After that first win we got to celebrate that, and it was special. From then on we started rolling, and we’re getting better day by day, continuing to trust in one another.”
The Bulldogs also will seek a third consecutive District crown when the postseason begins in a few weeks. Zeinstra is looking forward to a potential rematch with East Kentwood.
“I want another stab at them, and we like challenges,” Zeinstra said. “We feed off that, so I feel like we have a shot to win (Districts) again.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Byron Center’s Lily Zienstra considers her options during a game against Rockford. (Middle) Zienstra, left, puts up a shot against Muskegon. (Photos courtesy of the Byron Center girls basketball program.)