Northern Neighbors Sharing More Success

By Dennis Chase
Special for MHSAA.com

October 13, 2017

TRAVERSE CITY – Dave Hall laughs when he talks about his almost daily phone conversations with friend and coaching companion Ron Stremlow.

The two are among the most successful volleyball coaches in MHSAA history. Stremlow, now in his 34th season, has amassed 904 victories in stints at Kingsley and Fife Lake Forest Area. Hall, who Stremlow coaxed into replacing him at Kingsley in 1999, has 857.

“We probably talk for an hour every night,” Hall said. “He’s been a great mentor to me over the years. I’ve bounced a lot of ideas off him. 

"It’s funny because about four or five years ago he called me a couple times and started asking questions. ‘Hey, what would you do …’ For 12 years or so, it was always him giving me advice. He would rarely ask me anything. So when Ron started asking me what I would do in certain situations – ‘would you double block against them?’ – I thought, I finally made it. I got the master’s attention.”

Forest Area and Kingsley – the schools are about 12 miles apart – are attracting a lot of attention this season. Both schools reached the Regional Finals a year ago, and despite losing three key players to graduation, are ranked No. 5 in their respective classes this week by the coaches association – Kingsley in Class B and Forest Area in Class D.

It’s the first time Kingsley (36-2-1) has been ranked in Class B.

“We were in Class C a long time and were ranked a number of years,” Hall said. “We had one stretch where we won 50 games or more four years in a row and in one of those years we were ranked No. 1 for a few weeks. But we’ve never even cracked honorable mention in Class B until this year.”

Kingsley won the school’s first Class B District title in any sport last fall.

Forest Area (28-4), meanwhile, clinched at least a share of the Ski Valley Conference title Tuesday, giving the Warriors back-to-back crowns, a first for the school in the league’s current setup.

“The conference had (two) divisions for several years and we won our division a lot, but since we (eliminated the divisions) a few years ago we had never won back-to-back (championships),” Stremlow said.

Coaching consistency has been a hallmark in the two programs.

Stremlow and Hall have had a strong coaching relationship since 1996 when Hall, a former head football coach at Central Lake, accepted a teaching position at Kingsley. Stremlow was coaching the JV football team at the time and had just taken on the varsity volleyball job after a run at Forest Area. Hall assisted him with JV football.

When Kingsley decided to start a freshman volleyball program, Stremlow asked Hall if he would coach the team. After some arm-twisting, Hall accepted.

“I said, ‘Ron, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a volleyball game,’” Hall said. “He said, ‘That’s OK. I’ll help you.’ Well, the first volleyball I ever watched was my first practice.”

After one season, the JV job opened and Stremlow talked Hall into that position as well. After the 1999 campaign – and three District titles in four years – Stremlow returned to Forest Area to coach volleyball.

“We (Kingsley) had a good team, but I was teaching at Forest Area and that makes it a little easier (to coach),” Stremlow said. “I told Dave, ‘I think you’re ready to take that program.’ In 1996, we won the first District at Kingsley so we got things going. And Dave has kept it going, which I expected.”

That’s not to say Hall felt prepared to replace Stremlow.

“I wasn’t ready,” he admitted.

But he had a junior on the team, Atesha Olds, who helped him through it.

“I’d come into practice and say (to Atesha), ‘Hey, what do you think we should do today? Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s do that.’” he recalled with a laugh.

“It’s a funny story because by the time she came back for her senior year I had watched every video, read every how-to coaching book, watched a lot of college games. I had a plan. About the second day of practice, she stopped and said, ‘What happened to you?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ She said, ‘Well, you kind of know what you’re doing.’”

The team won a District in Hall’s first season and the victories started piling up from there.

“I fell in love with it,” Hall said.

Still, he had a decision to make in 2007 when the MHSAA switched seasons for some sports, including volleyball, which went from winter to fall. Hall was still coaching football and had moved up to the varsity staff under Tim Wooer.

“I’m a football guy. I love it. I thought I’d spend my career coaching football,” he said. “But I gave it up and haven’t missed a minute of it. Volleyball took over and then having a daughter (Leah) come through the program gave me the full buy-in.”

Hall’s overall record is 857-210-85. His team tied a school record with 56 victories last season.

“We’ve had great kids, lots of talent,” Hall said. “And, hopefully, I’ve had a little something to do with it somewhere along the line.”

The key, he added, is communication.

“I credit a lot of (success) to being able to communicate with girls and get them on the same page working together,” he said.

His players notice.

“His dedication, passion and love for volleyball inspires us,” senior libero Lacey Benton said. “It’s what we thrive on.”

“He wants us to do our best, and that (motivates) us to work harder and play better,” senior middle hitter Bekah Crosby added.

For the big games, Hall likes to put together a highlight video, accompanied by music, to fire up his team before the match.

“It’s one of the little things he does that shows how much he cares,” Benton said. “It’s really cool.”

For Forest Area, led by senior outside hitters Payton Leonard and Kelsey Mills, this is the second highest it has ever been ranked. It’s ironic because Leonard’s mother, Teri, was on the team that was ranked as high as No. 4.

Stremlow, 904-511-178 overall, has led the Warriors to 10 District titles, but they are still seeking that elusive first Regional crown. They’ve lost to perennial power Leland in the Regional Finals the last two years.

“We’re right there,” Stremlow said. “We’ve been in the Regional Finals eight times. It’s not like we didn’t try. We’ve just run up against some good competition. When you’re the second or third best D or C team in the area, it’s tough.

“But it’s like I tell the kids, ‘Enjoy your moment, enjoy what you’re doing, create good memories. That’s what it’s about.’”

Stremlow, 57, is a believer in the “success breeds success” mantra. After all, he runs the winningest program in the school.

“The girls see it’s a successful program, and they want to be part of it,” he said. “That helps. And volleyball is more a team sport than some others, so it allows our girls to be part of something big.”

Leonard has been a part of the program for years. She’s a three-year starter, but before that served as a manager since third grade. It’s been an invaluable experience, she said.

“He gets super intense during games,” the 17-year-old said of Stremlow. “But (by listening) it makes you understand the game better, hearing his points of view and perspective.”

In addition to losing three starters to graduation off a 45-8-1 team, the Warriors have been playing without another starter, Morgan Kniss, who was injured in an automobile accident last spring. She was cleared to play last week.

In the meantime, Stremlow has had several players step up to complement Leonard and Mills, namely setter and ace defender Maddie Cummer, libero Annie Nietling, setter Kelsey Boyd and hitters Bella Hulwick and McKenzie Szymchack.

“They stepped up in their roles, and that’s what you want to happen,” Stremlow said.

The Warriors, who have won four of five tournaments this fall, would like nothing better than to three-peat in Districts and, of course, take another shot at Regionals.

“We want to win it this time,” Mills said. “We don’t worry about what’s happened in the past. The past doesn’t define us.

“Personally, I want to make it to the (Final Four). I want to play on that (Kellogg Arena) floor. I know what we’re capable of.”

So does Leonard.

“We’re super competitive,” she added. “We have this mentality that nothing’s going to stop us, that nothing’s going to get in our way. It’s a mindset.”

Forest Area has never won three Districts in a row.

Stremlow has had just four losing seasons in his career and he points with pride to last year’s seniors, who finished last in the league as sophomores.

“They went from last to first,” he said. “I told them that as long as you believe in the process you’ll get better. Just pay your dues and keeping working hard. That’s what they did. That’s the stuff you like to remember; keep working towards something and your time will come, and when it does step up.”

Stremlow, who was inducted into the coaches association Hall of Fame in 2015 (Hall was his presenter), uses his experiences to convey that message to his players.

“There are only 17 other coaches with 900 wins, but, I always tell the girls and I use it as a teaching tool, I’ll guarantee you I’m the only one with 500 losses, too,” he said. “I’ve experienced both ends. You’re going to fail sometimes, but don’t give up, keep working, keep trying. That’s my theory – keep working, have fun, create good memories and then pass it on.”

What’s made this season so enjoyable, the players agree, is that it’s a tight-knit group.

“We’ve made it so far already,” Leonard said. “Winning is awesome and so much fun, but it’s 10 times better when you love the game so much and you have a team that’s so close and bonded as we are.”

The same could be said of Kingsley.

“We’re so connected,” Benton said. “We’re all on the same page.”

Hall lost five of his top nine players from last year’s 56-7-3 team – three to graduation, one to another sport and one to transfer.

But he returned a nucleus that included Jessica Lefler, Brittany Bowman, Benton and Crosby.

Although he knew his team would still be strong, Hall worried about the void at setter. But Maddy Alger’s play eased that concern. Alger benefitted from some tutoring with Leah Olds, a setter at Lawrence Tech, who was back home this summer.

With the postseason in mind, Hall also elected to beef up the schedule, adding three tournaments against predominantly Class A and B schools. Despite all its regular-season success, Kingsley, once it moved up to Class B, has had trouble with Cadillac in the MHSAA tournament.

“They’ve ended our season eight of the last nine years,” Hall said. “They’ve been a thorn in our side.”

Seven of those years finished in Districts. The two teams were in different Districts last season, but met in the Regional Finals with the Vikings prevailing.

Cadillac and Kingsley will both be in a tournament at Mount Morris on Saturday. Monroe, ranked eighth in Class A, is in Kingsley’s pool.

And that’s the type of competition Hall wants his team to see.

“We were upfront with the girls before the season,” he said. “We said, ‘We’re not going to have a similar record (as last year) because we’re going to be playing in some tournaments where we might take some lumps. But we’re going to grow from it.’

“They all said, ‘We don’t care (about the record). We want to get better. We want a chance to make a run in the tournament.’ They understood we needed to play better competition to prepare us for teams like Cadillac, which plays a lot of Class A schools.”

The record, though, has not suffered.

“No way would I have predicted we would be 36-2 at this point,” the 48-year-old Hall said.

Kingsley started the season by winning a tournament at Allendale, beating Grant twice and Holland Christian. Both are honorable mention Class B teams.

“Our girls gained a ton of confidence that day, and it probably put us on some peoples’ radar,” Hall said.

Kingsley has gone on to win five of six tournaments. The two losses – to Leland and Calumet in the Cadillac tournament – were avenged last week.

With a win Thursday over Buckley, Kingsley could clinch a share of the Northwest Conference title, the team’s first goal.

“We’re focusing on what’s right here, what’s right in front of us,” Crosby said.

Soon that will be Cadillac. The teams will meet in a District opener.

And Hall expects his team to be ready.

Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Fife Lake Forest Area coach Ron Stremlow, left, and Kingsford coach Dave Hall huddle with their teams this season. (Middle) Forest Area’s Payton Leonard player winds up to swing. (Below) Jessica Lefler connects on a kill attempt for Kingsley. (Photos courtesy of the Forest Area and Kingsley volleyball programs.)

Imlay City Embracing Tough Schedule, Missing Injured Standout, with End Game in Mind

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

September 13, 2023

Rachel Van Dyk wanted to make things as tough as possible for her Imlay City volleyball team. 

Bay & ThumbWhen the third-year coach created the Spartans’ schedule for this season, it wasn’t with the goal of picking up wins in August or September, but preparing them for November.

So, it was packed with tournaments featuring Division 1 opponents and some of the state’s top teams such as Clarkston, Farmington Hills Mercy, South Lyon East, Saginaw Valley Lutheran, and even an extra date with 2022 Division 2 champion and conference rival North Branch.

“That’s the idea,” said Van Dyk, who played collegiately at Michigan State. “In looking for tournaments, I look for what’s going to give us the toughest possible schedule. We’re looking at, ‘How are we going to improve the most?’ It’s not by playing teams we can beat easily. We might get creamed sometimes, we might get humbled sometimes, but we’re going to learn from it. I’m a proponent of doing what’s going to make us the best team possible, regardless of whether our record looks good to other people.”

That record sat at 6-7-2 heading into this week, and while it’s modest, it still looked good enough against the Spartans’ tough schedule for the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association to rank them No. 10 in Division 2.

But more important than outside recognition is that Van Dyk’s players get it as well.

“I think we all understand that it’s just getting us ready to play North Branch, who we’ll see in Districts,” senior libero Lexa Forti said. “I think everything is just leading up to that game in Districts and everything. We kind of brush off the losses, I guess, even though obviously, we want to win.”

It’s the second year Van Dyk has been able to build the Spartans with the postseason in mind, although this year the schedule certainly is beefed up.

Still, a year ago it was Imlay City that pushed North Branch – where Van Dyk served as an assistant prior to coming to Imlay City – as far as anyone else, losing in five sets in the District tournament. 

So the players know that what they’re doing can work, making it easier to focus on improving during the early months of the season rather than putting up an impressive record.

“I feel like our goals might be bigger than other teams’,” junior outside hitter Chloe Bruman said. “I feel like we’re pretty hard on ourselves. I think we know what we’re capable of, as well.”

 The Spartans go for a kill during a scrimmage last month.One thing Van Dyk did not plan for, however – which is also making things very tough on the Spartans – is an injury to Emma Keeping.

The star sophomore played just the first two matches of the season before suffering a back injury. Van Dyk said the Spartans are likely to be without their right-side hitter and setter until early to mid-October. 

Again, that makes winning tougher, especially against a strong nonconference schedule and an already difficult Blue Water Area Conference slate – the Spartans dropped a five-setter against Croswell-Lexington on Tuesday.

But Van Dyk and her players are seeing the positives in the absence of their biggest offensive threat.

“It’s required kids to step into roles that they didn’t expect to take,” Van Dyk said. “Those are some big shoes to fill, but we’ve found ways to try to see it in a positive light. Diamonds are made under pressure. The more challenges we can face, the more prepared we are for the challenge we’re going to face in North Branch in the District.”

One of the players most affected by Keeping’s absence is classmate Makayla Bruman, who shares setting duties in the Spartans rotation. Not only has she been forced to do more setting, but she’s had to find other options with Keeping gone.

One of those whom the Spartans have leaned on more is her sister, Chloe Bruman, who Van Dyk said has really stepped up and embraced her new role. Junior Yannet Zepeda is another outside hitter Van Dyk mentioned who has seen her role expand.

On top of all that, Forti is learning a new position, as she was just recently cleared following a torn ACL during basketball season. Formerly a six-rotation outside hitter for the Spartans, Forti is now playing libero. 

The Spartans are hopeful that getting through this time without Keeping will lead to a much more diverse attack once she comes back.

“I think it’s going to help us out tremendously,” Chloe Bruman said. “Obviously, we rely on her. Our whole team knows that; our coaches know that. I think it’s going to be more of a relief for her to come back. She’s such a leader on the court, and not just because she’s good. I think it will definitely be more difficult for other teams, because our offensive is going to be more widespread.”

Paul CostanzoPaul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Imlay City huddles up during this past weekend’s Birch Run Invitational. (Middle) The Spartans go for a kill during a scrimmage last month. (Photos courtesy of the Imlay City volleyball program.)