Plymouth Christian Completes Repeat Run
November 18, 2017
By Perry A. Farrell
Special for Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Plymouth Christian Academy coach D.J. Kellogg and his Eagles flew into Kellogg Arena as the reigning Class D volleyball champions.
They left the same way Saturday morning after dispatching the Fowler Eagles 25-18, 25-23, 25-21 in this year’s Final.
In a division that had been dominated by Battle Creek St. Philip and Leland over the last two decades, the Eagles now sit atop Class D for the second straight season.
Sisters Grace and Gabriella Kellogg led the offense with 15 kills each, while Abigail Pray contributed 31 assists for the winners, who improved to 45-8-3.
“Winning this with my daughters means everything,’’ said D.J. Kellogg. “We didn’t really plan it this way. I coached them in club. It gives you a chance to spend quality time with your kids.
“I never like being the one ranked first because you have a target on your back, but having lost eight from last year it was a completely different animal this year,’’ Kellogg added. “It wasn’t like there was a pressure to repeat because we lost most of the team. I try to play a tougher schedule so we don’t get too cocky.’’
It worked.
Tied 8-8 during the first game, Plymouth Christian reeled off eight of the next nine points to take a 16-9 lead against the first-time finalist.
Plymouth Christian’s lead reached 20-12, forcing Fowler coach Patty Feldpausch to call a timeout to stem the tide.
It was too late. Plymouth Christian was never threatened in finishing the first set win.
In the second, Plymouth Christian made its move with the score tied 5-5.
The Eagles scored three straight points to take an 8-5 lead, and after an ace by Grace Kellogg, Fowler was forced to call another timeout while trailing by four.
Fowler scored the next two points after the timeout, but Plymouth Christian was on another roll.
Robin Alert’s back-to-back aces had the Eagles in control at 13-8. The lead grew to 16-9 as the reigning champ’s poise and experience started to dominate the match.
Fowler didn’t go away easy, scoring four straight points of its own to trim the deficit to 17-14. Fowler elevated its play and Plymouth Christian got sloppy as the deficit was trimmed to 22-21, forcing Kellogg to call his first timeout of the match.
But after a few anxious points, the defending champs prevailed when Fowler hit a ball out to give Plymouth Christian a 2-0 lead.
Fowler turned the tables on Plymouth Christian in the third game, scoring six of the first eight points to lead by four with Kellogg calling a timeout in an attempt to change momentum.
It didn’t fare better after the timeout as Fowler scored the next two points to increase its lead to 8-2.
Fowler fought to stay ahead, but when a kill by sophomore Gabriella Kellogg reduced the lead to 10-9, Feldpausch called a timeout to keep her team in the championship.
A kill by Elise Miera brought Plymouth Christian all the way back at 11-11, and a kill on the next point gave them a one-point lead – which turned into a 14-11 by the end of a 12-3 run.
Marissa Snyder had 11 kills for Fowler (38-12-5), and senior Kennedy Koenigsknecht had 25 assists. The team made quite a turnaround after winning only 12 matches a season ago, and Tuesday’s Quarterfinal victory also was a program first.
Plymouth Christian had been ranked No. 1 all season long and dropped only two sets during the postseason.
“We lost a lot of great players from last year,’’ said Grace, a senior. “To come back and do it again is great. Our JV team last year was good. We had a lot of girls come up from that team and step it up. This is our third straight year here. Last year we were ready to go and knew what to expect.’’
Another championship.
PHOTOS: (Top) Plymouth Christian Academy’s Grace Kellogg (3) sends a kill past a pair of Fowler blockers during Saturday morning’s Class D Final. (Middle) Plymouth Christian raises the champion’s trophy for the second straight season.
Reese Earns 1st Championship Dance with Unforgettable Comeback
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 20, 2021
BATTLE CREEK – As Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” rang through the Kellogg Arena speakers Saturday, the Reese volleyball team put on a show.
The Rockets huddled up, sang and danced near their bench following the second set of their Division 3 Final against Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central. In isolation, it looked like the beginning of a celebration. With context, it was a team looking to regain its identity while in a 0-2 hole.
“You have to fake it until you make it, man,” Reese senior setter Aydan Dalak said. “You have to fake it until you make it, and make it look like you’re good.”
Three sets later, the Rockets replaced dancing with the happiest player pile in Reese volleyball history, as they came back to defeat SMCC 18-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21, 16-14 and claim the school’s first volleyball Finals title.
“It was just exciting. It was, I think, everything that people want to see when they come to a state championship game,” Reese coach Angie Compton said. “We definitely were not ourselves at the beginning, and we loosened up that third set and we just never looked back. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t without our, ‘Oh no, are we going to do this?’ moments. But they’re just a great group of girls that just got the job done.”
The win denied SMCC a third straight Division 3 title, and ended with a back-and-forth final set, which began with each team going on a 5-0 run. The Kestrels took a 9-7 lead during the set, but, outside of the final tally, neither team led by more than one after that.
Reese (35-5-1) clinched the title on the second championship point of the night, as senior Maddi Osantowski and junior Abby Karst combined for a block.
“Honestly, I don’t even remember it,” Osantowski said. “I just saw her go up and I was like, ‘Whatever, let’s just try and block this girl and get the game over with.’ I was kind of in shock. That was my first block against her the whole game. It was great.”
As the tension of the final set increased, Reese continued to stay loose, lining up as sprinters on the one side of the court as a timeout would come to an end, and faux sprinting across to the other side when the horn would blow. That joined a stirring rendition of “Living on a Prayer” and a team shadow boxing exercise during “Eye of the Tiger” in getting the Rockets into the proper headspace to come out victorious.
“I was like, ‘Everybody is probably judging us like crazy. Do they not care?’” Compton said with a laugh. “We expected to win. We came in thinking we could do this. We don’t think everybody else thought that, but we don’t care. We definitely care, especially in those moments, we care the most when we’re loosening ourselves up. When we’re dancing and getting loose, we know that’s how we play better. I know it looks weird, but it’s very important to our style of play.”
Also very important to their style of play is Osantowski, who finished with 34 kills and totaled 110 attack attempts during the match.
“I know that she will put it down when we need it to be put down,” said Dalak, who had 42 assists on the night. “It’s good to mix it up sometimes, too, because we need to get those blockers moving around.”
Dalak did switch it up in a crucial moment, ending a wild rally with a dump for the final point of the fourth set. Dalak also had 13 digs and six kills in the match, while Sarah Gray added 21 digs and six kills. Josie Johnson led the Reese defense with 29 digs, while Osantowski added 17.
While Reese was getting loose and gaining momentum, SMCC (36-12) was attempting to regain what it had in the opening two sets.
“A big part of it is, I tell them, ‘Take a deep breath, let’s focus on the things that we know,’” Kestrels co-coach Cassandra Haut said. “What do we know about the other side? Is the setter up, is the setter down? What do they normally hit in this situation? And we talk about the rotation we’re in. What’s our best hit? Any way to just kind of refocus on something else, not the nerves or anything else that you’re feeling.”
Senior Kate Collingsworth spread the wealth with her 52 assists for SMCC. Jessica Costlow had 22 kills, McKenna Payne had 21 and Audrey Cousino had 10. Payne also had 29 digs and four aces, while Costlow had 19 digs.
“I am super, super proud of my team and everything they’ve accomplished this year,” Haut said. “They persevered through a lot of different things, and we play a really tough schedule. And I think it shows with how hard we can push.”
PHOTOS (Top) Reese’s Aydan Dalak (4) revs up her team during Saturday’s Division 3 championship win. (Middle) St. Mary’s Kate Collingsworth (3) and Lauren Conant (5) put up a block as Reese’s Calli Blossom aims to send a ball through. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)