Despite Challenge of New League, Adrian Madison Continuing on Title Track

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

October 24, 2023

ADRIAN – Shopping. Dinner. Ice Cream.  

Southeast & BorderThat might be the secret formula that has the Adrian Madison volleyball program on the brink of winning its eighth consecutive league championship. 

“The first week of the season, we went to Houghton Lake,” said Madison senior and four-year starter Jillian Kendrick. “We stayed there three or four days in a house. As a team, we went shopping and were together all the time. That was a really good time for us. We bonded. 

“Now, we all kind of hang out outside of practice. We just find little ways, here and there, go to dinner or get ice cream. We find ways to stay together.” 

That trip to Houghton Lake, which included a volleyball tournament, was the springboard to another great season for Heather Lanning’s Trojans. Madison is 36-8-3 overall heading into the Lenawee County Athletic Association jamboree Tuesday. The Trojans are 11-0 in conference play and can wrap up the league title with two victories. 

League titles have become the norm for Madison. The Trojans won the last seven Tri-County Conference championships – with Lanning, who took over in 2021, the program’s third coach during the run – going undefeated in league play several of those years. This fall, however, Madison moved to the LCAA, a larger conference in southeast Michigan. 

“It’s a very tough volleyball league,” Lanning said. “A lot of our competition has been tough. We play Clinton, Onsted, and Dundee Tuesday, which are three of the toughest teams. They’ve taken a set from us every time we’ve played them. Clinton beat us in a tournament.  

“We knew this year was going to be difficult, but we have buckled down the last few weeks. Our No. 1 goal was to win the LCAA. We are close to that.” 

Coach Heather Lanning took over the program in 2021 and has continued the varsity’s league title run.Lanning said the difference in the leagues is the consistent intensity. 

“The intensity is high,” she said. “I thought we were going to be good with so many returning players, but I did not necessarily expect us to be 11-0. This is what we’ve been striving for.” 

Lanning is a Britton graduate in Lenawee County who got the coaching bug from her dad, former Britton football coach and athletic director Randy Salisbury. She started her coaching career as a middle school coach at Britton and moved up. She became the Madison junior varsity coach while the varsity was in the middle of the streak of winning TCC titles. When the previous varsity coach, Kelsey Cortright, stepped down due to a job shift, Lanning was named the head coach. 

The league championships have continued. 

“She’s great,” Kendrick said. “I like a coach that is about volleyball and helps you improve in volleyball but also makes it fun. We can have a serious practice but laugh and enjoy our time. She is focused on team bonding a lot and being one as a team.” 

Lanning said she’s not afraid to have a little fun at practice. 

“I like to laugh,” she said. “I like to have fun. If they are not having fun, it’s not worth it to me. I want to make sure the girls are having fun.” 

The Trojans can be disciplined, too.  

“We have a lot of dedicated players,” Lanning said. “We work hard in the offseason and all summer long. They know what the expectations are and the goals. We start young and we have a lot of girls who play club, who just love the sport of volleyball. Most of my players on the varsity team don’t just pick up a ball once a year during the season. They play year-round.” 

Madison has eight returning seniors, including Kendrick, who recently recorded assist No. 3,000 in her career. 

Kendrick celebrates her 3,000th career assist.“A lot of people get 2,000 assists in a career, but 3,000 is a pretty big deal,” Lanning said.  

Kendrick is a leader on and off the court, Lanning said. 

“She’s been captain on the court for two years,” she said. “She brings the team together. She boosts confidence in the team and helps the younger girls along. She has a heart of gold.” 

In addition to bringing back eight seniors, Lanning also brought up freshman Lilly Pharion and sophomore Kianna McKinney to the team.  

“Jillian spends time with them,” Lanning said. “All of the girls do.” 

Kendrick said she wants the younger players to be comfortable on the team. 

“I know when I was a freshman, I was shy and scared,” she said. “It was intimidating. I try and put more thought into making them feel welcome and more confident.” 

Seniors like Veronica Flores, Courtney Gauna, Tatum Wilson, and Caylan Sower have made huge impacts on the team this year as well. 

“Tatum is in the top four in kills in the county. Veronica and Caylan dominate in the back. Kianna is a defensive specialist who reads the floor well. We have weapons,” Lanning said. “I knew going into the season we had something special, but it's still tough to keep it going. We didn’t know exactly what to expect from the LCAA.” 

Kendrick said the team just keeps staying together and improving. 

“We definitely knew the competition was going to be good, and it would be a challenge,” she said. “We just go into every game wanting to win and maintain that mindset. We like the challenge.” 

Doug DonnellyDoug 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 Jillian Kendrick (4) lines up to pass during a match this season. (Middle) Coach Heather Lanning took over the program in 2021 and has continued the varsity’s league title run. (Below) Kendrick celebrates her 3,000th career assist. (Top and middle photos by Deloris Clark-Osborne; below photo courtesy of the Madison athletic department.)

Visser Relishing Rockford Run In Return After Missed Season

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

November 20, 2024

ROCKFORD – The Rockford volleyball team is in the midst of an impressive postseason run, and just two wins away from a Division 1 championship.

West MichiganSenior Layla Visser is beyond grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it after an injury derailed her junior season.

Visser missed it entirely after having shoulder surgery. She didn’t return to the court until midway through this fall, but has been a major contributor in the team’s success as the Rams enter Thursday’s Division 1 Semifinal against Fenton (30-2) at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.

“It’s amazing to be back,” Visser said. “I love volleyball more now than I ever have.”

Visser started feeling pain in her right shoulder following her sophomore season. Doctors discovered that she had a torn labrum, rotator cuff and biceps tendon.

Being away from the sport she loves took its toll.

“It was a lot harder than I expected it to be, but it really pushed me,” Visser said. “It was really emotionally and mentally hard, unlike anything I’ve ever been through because volleyball is my passion and my identity. So not being able to play or be a part of that was hard.

“All of these girls are really special to me, and I’ve been playing with them for a long time now. To finally be able to be on the court again with them and playing at a high level feels really good and special.”

Rockford junior Liv Hosford is thrilled to have her friend and teammate back on the court, helping the Rams in their pursuit of the program’s first Finals title since 2011.

“It’s definitely huge to have her back, and even when she wasn't playing she was a huge part of our team with her positivity on the bench and keeping the energy up and giving us extra motivation sometimes when we didn't have any,” Hosford said. “She’s been a huge part of our team and our success with her wall of a block, and her hits are becoming so good.” 

Layla Visser (1) winds up for a kill attempt with Izzie Delacher setting and Liz Hosford (14) also approaching the net.Rams coach Kelly Delacher said Visser has been a welcome addition to a team abounding with veteran experience and young talent.

“She didn’t play at all last year and the first month of this season, so it was incredible to get her back,” he said. “We converted her to a middle hitter, which she has never played before, but she has been great as far as leadership and blocking and giving us some offense out of the middle.”

Rockford (39-9), which has dropped only two sets during the MHSAA Tournament, swept Traverse City Central 3-0 in a Division 1 Quarterfinal. 

A grueling and lengthy third set saw the Rams prevail, 36-34. 

“That was the longest single set I’ve been a part of, but they were a very solid team with some scary hitters and our kids came out and were focused from point one,” Delacher said. “We did a good job of exploiting a couple of matchups, and our outside hitter Mallory Wandel had a big night with 27 kills.”

Depth and talent, combined with a tight-knit bond, have been staples for the Rams.

“I knew right from the beginning that we had something special,” Delacher said. “We had a great mix of seniors with some young talented players, and I give a lot of credit to our captains and our seniors for creating a great chemistry and bond where they are not worried about their individual goals. They just want to win and support each other in the process.”

Hosford echoed those sentiments:

“One of the biggest things is our team chemistry,” she said. “I feel like we are a big family, and we’ve clicked from the first practice and we've continued to build that. We just have so much trust in each other, and we are all working toward the same goal. 

The Rams, who won the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red title this year, have appeared in the Finals twice since that championship run in 2011. They were Division 1 runners-up in 2018 after a loss to Lake Orion, and Class A runner-up in 2016 after falling to Novi.

“There are very good teams left in Fenton, which has had a great season with only a couple of losses, and Northville and Marian on the other side of the bracket are very good teams,” Delacher said. “It’s going to take us playing our best volleyball, and I believe our kids our starting to believe that. We’ve matched up against four straight ranked opponents, and we’ve played pretty well so I feel like our confidence is pretty high. We feel like we have as good a chance as anybody.”

Dean HolzwarthDean 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) Rockford celebrates its Quarterfinal win over Traverse City Central on Tuesday at Big Rapids High School. (Middle) Layla Visser (1) winds up for a kill attempt with Izzie Delacher setting and Liz Hosford (14) also approaching the net. (Photos by Miles Postema.)