EGR, Hopkins Take Volleyball Match to Football Field for 'Rally on Reeds'
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
August 28, 2024
EAST GRAND RAPIDS – Memorial Field in late August is typically filled with the sounds of football pads smashing against each other and raucous crowds celebrating touchdowns.
Last week, however, a different environment engulfed East Grand Rapids’ football field.
With picturesque Reeds Lake as the backdrop, an outdoor volleyball match between the Pioneers and visiting Hopkins was played on the 50-yard line.
The first-year event was dubbed “Rally on Reeds,” and it turned out to be a special gathering of the East Grand Rapids community.
“It was electric,” first-year Pioneers coach Bruce Hungerford said. “Like a ruckus football game meets a minor league baseball-type environment. It was very cool."
More than 2,000 people attended the match, which ended with EGR sweeping the Vikings 3-0.
It was a spectacle that included a carnival area, a visit from members of the Grand Rapids Rise professional volleyball team, a band and the opportunity to showcase the sport of high school volleyball in a non-traditional setting.
“It was unreal,” EGR junior captain Sadie Devlaeminck said. “It was just so great to see how much the community showed up for the volleyball team and to see the environment that we played in. It was just crazy.”
Hungerford had an idea for an event like this before being hired for the job. He was eager to implement it.
“I had it in my plan to build a community, and host a lot of home games,” Hungerford said. “EGR has an awesome football setup because there’s no track around the football field and it just sits perfectly.
“I had the idea well before the Nebraska (volleyball) game (last season) and mostly because of Grand Haven. They do the Battle of the Boardwalk, so I knew people did it outside for scrimmages and games. With this being my first game coaching, I thought this would be a cool way to try and get these little kids that I’ve coached to come and see it, and it went from there.”
Nearby Aquinas College rented EGR the court, and the nets and stanchions were supplied by Grand Rapids Community College.
While excitement built, the process of putting together the court on the football field proved to be a challenging and time-consuming task.
It took more than seven hours for the court to be constructed with the finishing touches completed at 6:48 p.m., 12 minutes before the start of the match.
“The turf provided a tougher environment because of the squares, and you can’t just slide them in,” Hungerford said. “We had to restart a few times and I thought we were absolutely dead in the water at one point. But we got the lines down, and it wasn’t going anywhere.”
While anxiety surrounded the installation of the court, that was eased when play started.
“I was a little nervous because the court took so long to set up,” Devlaeminck said. “And I thought it was going to be harder than indoors because of all the different elements like the wind. But I knew it was going to be a lot of fun playing with my team in a football stadium.
“It was nice for the football team to come and sit in the student section and show support and cheer us on. I thought it was great.”
Hungerford said the Hopkins’ players and coaches enjoyed it as well.
“I didn’t want them to think that they were coming to our prom,” he said. “We were in constant contact with them, and their principal participated in the dunk tank. We got one of their kids to be interviewed by the media, and it was a fun community connection. They all loved it, and they said it was super cool. They were glad they came.”
Sophomore Kenzee Stanley-Eldred was overwhelmed by the amount of support the Pioneers received.
“We weren’t used to playing in front of very big crowds and don't usually have much of a student section, but a lot of people from our school came for this,” Stanley-Eldred said. “And also just the environment of playing outside on a sport court instead of being in a gym. Being outside feels a lot different.”
Organizers hope to make it an annual event by having different teams each year play against EGR.
For many in attendance, this was their first glimpse of high school volleyball.
“A lot of people that I knew and I talked to after the game said it was the first time ever having anything to do with the sport, so it was really cool that we let them into that,” Stanley-Eldred said. “I think it had a big impact with just how many people showed up and were willing to support one another, especially when it was doing something so new and different.”
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) An East Grand Rapids hitter puts the ball past a Hopkins block during last week’s “Rally on Reeds” game one EGR’s football field. (2) A pair of Pioneers work to get their hands on a kill attempt. (3) East Grand Rapids warms up as fans fill the stands. (4) East Grand Rapids and Hopkins players take a photo together wearing their “Rally on Reeds” shirts. (Photos by Kathy Hoffman/Michigan Sports Photo.)
Restored Novi Aims to Extend Title Streak
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
November 8, 2017
NOVI – Eleven months ago, after Novi had won its second consecutive MHSAA Class A title, those in the volleyball community fully expected the Wildcats to easily make it a three-peat in 2017.
And why not? Novi won its second straight championship in a four-set victory over Rockford in the Final, and coach Jen Cottrill had nine seniors returning led by two of the state’s top players in setter Erin O’Leary and outside hitter Abryanna Cannon.
Those close to the sport, and the program, agreed that this team had more talent – and coupled with the experience, a third title would be a breeze.
But the world of sports, especially at the high school level, isn’t so predictable. It’s part of the allure of athletics. Each season, each game, is laced with unknown factors.
And so it was for the Wildcats. During tryouts Cannon suffered a sprained ankle, which forced her to miss much of the early part of the season. Soon after senior Kathryn Ellison, another outside hitter, suffered a shoulder injury. Midseason, senior middle hitter Savanna Frick suffered a concussion. And shortly thereafter Jaeda Porter, a junior who plays middle as well, suffered a high ankle sprain.
Those injuries caused frequent changes to the rotation that often had players playing out of position.
“We went through some changes, having four starters out at one time,” Cottrill said. “We were also dealing with a lot of pressure. People expect you to win. You get everyone trying to take you down. Just because you have talented players doesn’t mean you’re going to win. We’re fortunate that the top players we have are humble.”
Cottrill has all of her players back, and the No. 2-ranked Wildcats (53-3) are playing at a high level. They defeated No. 9 Northville in the District Final in straight sets and Walled Lake Central, also in straight sets, in a Regional Semifinal on Tuesday at Dexter. Novi will play South Lyon in a Regional Final on Thursday, also at Dexter, at 7 p.m.
The best of the best for Novi are O’Leary and Cannon, both of whom are among the 10 finalists for the state coaches association Miss Volleyball Award. O’Leary signed with University of Michigan on Wednesday; Cannon with Northwestern.
Cannon, a transfer from Traverse City West, moved to Novi after her sophomore season and has proven to be an important piece to the puzzle. She had a match-high 20 kills in last season’s championship match win. Ellison and Porter also played major roles in that trip to Kellogg.
O’Leary has been directing the attack from the start Novi’s rise, and she’s from a family where athletics are engrained. Her father, Brian O’Leary, was the soccer coach at Novi and her brother, Connor, was an all-state soccer player for the Wildcats who is now competing for Grand Valley State’s club team. Brian O’Leary was at Novi when the program won the school’s only MHSAA boys soccer title (Division 1 in 1998).
Erin O’Leary, a four-year starter, said she and her teammates are playing as well as they have all season and, in an odd way, the early-season injuries have been a blessing.
“This has been a different season than the other ones,” O’Leary said. “The other seasons we hadn’t faced much adversity. We were great in the beginning and we were great at the end. After the injuries, ultimately, looking back, the experiences were good for us. Now we’re better. We talk about being competitive in practice. Other players had to step up their game. Having everyone on the team playing helps elevate everyone’s game.”
O’Leary is quite the talent, on the court and in the classroom. She was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior and is considered one of the top players nationally while also playing club for Legacy, coached by Rick Cottrill, Jen’s husband. O’Leary played for USA Volleyball’s Youth National Team in 2016.
She also carries a 4.2 grade-point average and is expected to graduate early and enroll at U-M in January.
Few Class A teams have enjoyed the success Novi has had recently. The Wildcats lost in the 2014 Final to Romeo before winning the title the past two seasons. Should they capture a third consecutive title later this month, they would be the first Class A team since Portage Northern in the mid-1990s to win three straight.
Northern actually won four consecutive titles (1992-95), highlighting an incredible run of 10 Class A championship in 18 seasons (1982-1999).
This is Cottrill’s sixth season at Novi. She coached at Pinckney (seven seasons) and White Lake Lakeland (three) before coming to Novi. She’s taken nothing for granted. It’s been a coach’s dream to guide so many fine athletes during such a brief period.
“Being in a public school system, you go in cycles,” she said. “What you do (with talented players) is up to you. Erin was playing at a high level in the seventh grade. She was the star. We’ve been able to build (a team) around her.
“The system cultivates success. How to be disciplined. To remain humble. We spend a lot of time on leadership, talking about what it takes to be a leader. If they are leading a group, we want them to focus on the right things, the right direction to take.
“The goal when you’re coaching is not winning. We focus on making the girls better women. To be a great employee, a great wife, a great mother.
“In 2014 we did pull a rabbit out of the hat. We didn’t have any Division I players (in the senior class). You take a lot of joy seeing the girls work hard and being rewarded for that. There’s nothing more gratifying for a coach that to see them grow as a person.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Novi volleyball coach Jen Cottrill talks things over with her team. (Middle) Novi’s Miss Volleyball finalists, Abryanna Cannon (top) and Erin O’Leary. (Below) Cottrill is in her sixth season leading the Wildcats. (Photos courtesy of the Novi volleyball program.)