Aggies Dig Success Under New Coach
October 5, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The first time first-year Beal City volleyball coach Kelly David met with her new team, which actually is her old one too, the room was silent.
David is 20 years old, and starred for the Aggies only three seasons ago. Two of her seniors were freshman call-ups to varsity at the end of her final high school season, and one is her younger sister Monica. Those factors alone made this a rare situation.
“I think they were nervous,” Kelly David said. “They didn’t know what to expect from me.”
So far, it’s been more of the same for one of Michigan’s small-school volleyball powers, which has made the MHSAA Quarterfinals six of the last 11 seasons and the Semifinals twice during that time.
Beal City is 26-5-1 and ranked No. 3 in Class D. Four of those losses were to Class C teams: No. 2 St. Louis, No. 6 Morley Stanwood, No. 9 Pewamo-Westphalia and honorable mention Concord. The Aggies get a Second Half High 5 this week after avenging two of those losses by beating P-W and St. Louis en route to winning the Sharks’ Invitational on Saturday.
David is quick to explain that she’s merely picking up where previous coaches, including predecessor Randy Gallagher and his predecessor Kelly Knuth, left off. Beal City was a great landing spot for a first-time varsity coach.
But under David, the Aggies haven't missed a beat.
Beal City won its District last season despite moving into Class C, beating St. Louis in that final before losing to Morley-Stanwood in the Regional. But the Aggies graduated all-state second-team outside hitter Heather Griffis and then lost their coach of the last six seasons.
They're back on a roll. Until falling to St. Louis in pool play Saturday, Beal City hadn't lost since falling to Concord three weeks ago. The Aggies also own a win over rival Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart – the team that eliminated them from the postseason in 2010, and another over Class A Mount Pleasant.
Beal City came back to beat St. Louis 25-19, 25-19 in the championship match Saturday, perhaps its most impressive win so far.
“We got used to the fast-paced game, and that helped us out,” David said of avenging the day’s earlier loss. “We gained confidence through it. Learning has a lot to do with believing in yourself and knowing you can win.”
David was a standout setter in high school after moving up to varsity at the end of her freshman season and served as a captain as both a junior and senior. Setters run a volleyball team on the court, and during that time her coaching interest began to take root.
She played two seasons at St. Clair Community College before transferring as a student only to Central Michigan University, where she’s studying to become an elementary school teacher. David coached a seventh grade team and also club ball while at St. Clair, and when Gallagher didn’t return, she applied to take over.
The talent she inherited eased the transition. Senior setter Jade Kennedy was one of those freshmen who moved up when David was a senior, and she took over as setter the next season and made all-region in 2011. She’s surrounded by a number of players who have made contributions; among them, Monica David and junior Addie Schumacher give the Aggies two talented blockers in the middle, and junior outside hitter Melanie Schafer has been dynamic particularly on defense.
Better blocking was a main thing Kelly David noticed when she moved on to the college level, and that’s been a point of emphasis in her first season as coach. So has increasing her players’ knowledge of the game, how to position themselves and place the ball and use their athleticism to the best of their abilities.
The St. Louis win produced a surge in confidence that should carry through into the playoffs later this month. Despite its high ranking, Beal City probably wasn’t the favorite entering the day.
“The whole team was pulling for each other. Everyone wanted to win, and no one was tired,” David said. “We had confidence, and once we got that far, we pretty much refused to lose.”
PHOTO: Beal City's Nicole Gross sends the ball over the net during a win over Shepherd earlier this season. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).
Kestrels Prove to be Champions Again
November 17, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Taylor Vuich and her teammates have learned to ride the wave of a good omen.
And so, when her hotel room was the first among Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s to wake up Saturday morning, and their favorite song was playing when they flipped on the radio, the Kestrels just knew “today was the day.”
Saturday was the day St. Mary got back the MHSAA Class C championship after coming within three points of a second-straight title one year ago.
The Kestrels claimed their second championship in three seasons and fourth overall with a 25-14, 24-26, 25-10 and 25-9 win over first-time finalist Traverse City St. Francis at Kellogg Arena.
“We got all the way here last year, (played) two and half hours, and then it just slipped away from us,” Vuich said. “They were a great team, but I think we knew this year that this is what we wanted. We wanted to prove to everyone that we’re state champions.”
It’s fair to call the 2011 Class C Final epic. All five games were decided by three or fewer points, with Morley-Stanwood claiming the last 15-12.
With now five championship game appearances over the last 11 seasons, it’s also fair to say the Kestrels (49-6) set high expectations heading into every fall – even if that might’ve turned a little dangerous earlier this week.
“When we talk about goals at the beginning of the year, they talk about getting back here,” St. Mary coach Diane Tuller said of her players. “I talk about the first game of the season, (that) this is where we want to be midway and this is where we want to be toward the end; this is what we need to keep working on. That’s the important thing to me. They set those goals, and I have to keep bringing them back.
“I think we overlooked the team we played in the Quarterfinals (Auburn Hills Oakland Christian). It was our worst game of the year. Everything shut down. … (But) our senior captains really wanted it, and they kept them focused. I gave them the job of keeping this team together.”
And they got back together quickly after the Gladiators took a close second set.
St. Mary scored the first 10 points of the third game and then jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the fourth.
And when junior McKenzie Todd and sophomore Cassandra Haut combined to simultaneously crush the winning point straight into the floor, it was a strong lasting impression of how those last two games had gone.
Haut, an all-state honorable mention as a freshman, finished with a team-high 16 kills from her powerful right arm. Vuich, swinging a hammer with her left, added 13 kills and eight digs, and Todd had 10 kills.
Senior Claire McMillan had 46 assists, tied for ninth-most in a Final since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. Junior Kelsey Geiman – beating the previous record by five (and the record from before rally scoring by seven).
"We are really deep, in all our players. We have a lot of good hitters on our team,” Haut said. “We can always count on anyone on our team.”
St. Francis finished 42-8-3, impressive all the more because co-coaches Heather Simpson and Rita Jones didn't take over until a month before practice began.
They moved up from coaching the junior varsity after the former varsity coach resigned to take another full-time job.
“Our kids don’t quit, and I don’t think how we played today is really a reflection of how good we were, or are,” Simpson said. “From that aspect, it’s disappointing. But hats off to them. They’re a good team, and we are too, but we couldn't match them.”
St. Francis senior Bridget Bussell just missed getting into the Finals records as well, with her 18 kills just two short of that list. She also had six digs, and senior setter Katilyn Hegawald had seven and 26 assists.
“We just never got into our groove, except for the game we won,” Bussell said.
(But) we knew we were here for a reason, so we tried as hard as we could to keep pushing.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Monroe St. Mary sophomore Cassandra Haut (13) covers a kill attempt by Traverse City St. Francis during the Class C Final. (Middle) St. Francis senior Kaitlyn Hegawald (9) prepares to set up teammate Olivia Hardy (4).