Senior-Led Lake Orion Earns 1st Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 17, 2018
BATTLE CREEK – With 10 seniors on the roster, it’s fitting this year’s version of the Lake Orion volleyball team was the one to bring the school its first MHSAA volleyball title.
And while they’re plenty talented, that group brought a trait coach Tony Scavarda said was the difference in getting his program over the top:
Grit.
“We’ve been in situations this year several times where we were down late in sets, and they don’t stop playing,” Scavarda said. “Even the set we lost tonight, they could have just said, ‘Eh, we’ll win the next set.’ But no, they came back, it was 23-24, and fought even to the very end of that set. They’re very resilient, gritty, and they don’t let any set go without a fight.”
Lake Orion defeated Rockford 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16 on Saturday at Kellogg Arena to claim the Division 1 title. It was the program’s second trip to the final game, with the first ending with a loss against Rockford in 2011.
Thanks to a 30-kill effort from senior Paige Briggs and a 50-set effort from senior Wren Macaulay, it was clear there wouldn’t be any heart break this time.
“Honestly, it just feels unreal,” Macaulay said while hugging the championship trophy. “Being here for four years and on the team and losing the last three years, it feels so good to end on a winning streak and not with tears this year. It’s exciting, it’s really exciting. It still hasn’t hit me yet.”
The Dragons (68-6) not only brought home the first state title in school history, but became the first team from the Oakland Activities Association to win at the Finals level, something Scavarda learned at the post-match press conference.
“We knew it was the first ever for Lake Orion, which was a pretty big accomplishment. But to be the only one from the OAA, seeing that it’s one of the toughest leagues year in and year out in the state, that’s surprising,” Scavarda said. “But I knew these guys had it in them. It was just a matter of putting it together at the right time.”
After controlling much of the first set, Lake Orion found itself trailing for much of the second. That’s when it decided to lean a bit more on Briggs, who had 10 kills in the frame.
“My whole thought was Wren really likes to spread the ball around, and it opens Paige up a lot of times,” Scavarda said. “I specifically told her though, I don’t care if Paige’s legs fall off tonight, I want to take this in three. She can rest tomorrow and the next day. We gotta get that second set. That’s a big momentum thing; even though they got that third set, we knew that we were still up 2-1. It’s still a nice little cushion to have.”
Rockford (47-12-1) didn’t relent in the third, leading for much of it before holding Lake Orion off late.
“We’ve been in that situation a couple times before, and they handled themselves very well,” Rockford coach Kelly Delacher said. “They continued to fight throughout that third set, and did a good job of squeaking out a win there.”
But Lake Orion grabbed control of the fourth set early, and kept Rockford at arm’s length throughout before closing the match, fittingly, with a kill by Briggs, assisted by Macaulay.
“I feel like our team is really good at being calm in those tough situations,” Lake Orion senior middle blocker Leigha Boes said. “Especially when it’s close, we really don’t hear the cheering and the crowd and the other team.”
Senior libero Ciara Livingway had 13 digs for the Dragons, while Boes had nine kills. Kendal Robertson added six kills and four blocks, while Sydney Smith had seven kills and 11 digs.
Senior Lindsay Taylor led Rockford with 20 kills and 14 digs. Emmy Webb added 12 kills, while Emilee Karelse had 36 assists.
“I’m super proud with how my team played,” Delacher said. “It’s not an easy thing coming out and playing under bright lights and cameras and a big, huge crowd from your school, and I thought they performed very well under the pressure throughout the whole tournament. Lake Orion is a very good team, and they’re a very deserving champion.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Lake Orion hoists its first MHSAA championship trophy Saturday at the Kellogg Arena. (Middle) Dragons Wren Macaulay (10), Leigha Boes (13) and Paige Briggs put up a block as Rockford’s Emmy Webb sends a kill attempt through.
Eye of a Tiger, Will of a Champion
November 6, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The game was supposed to be fun with a little competition mixed in. That’s the general idea behind students vs. staff volleyball games like the one Vicky Groat stopped to watch during Battle Creek’s Catholic Schools week a few years ago.
But the tallest girl on the court, eighth-grader Amanda McKinzie, showed a little something extra that day – a desire the seven-time MHSAA champion coach continues to admire.
"There were some other kids in her class that were playing that were volleyball players, but (I thought) ‘She’s got it,’” Groat remembered last week. “She understands the game. She knows it’s joking around. But there’s that serious side to her, that competitive side. That’s cool.
“I remember sitting back (later), standing there going, that’s the competitive drive that I saw in her in eighth grade. Hopefully that continues for years to come.”
The 6-foot outside hitter enters the final two weeks of her high school career tonight ranking among the MHSAA all-time leaders in kills and aces, and as one of 10 candidates for this season’s Miss Volleyball Award handed out by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association. The Second Half High 5 recipient this week has helped the Tigers to the last three Class D championships and is a big part why they are considered the state’s best team in any class as they pursue one more title before she heads off next season to Virginia Tech.
That’s a mouthful. But this is a season – and career – that McKinzie began preparing for in first grade.
Like most girls who come through the Tigers’ program, that’s when McKinzie first became part of the St. Phil volleyball family. The eventual stars start early and follow the varsity growing up, attending MHSAA Finals and having their shirts autographed by the players they look up to and someday might replace.
By her admission, McKinzie looked up to everyone who played on those teams – although it was hard for the emerging hitter to not pay special attention to Allison Doyle, who graduated from St. Phil in 2006 and went on to an All-America career at Western Michigan.
The game that sticks out most was Doyle’s last, a five-set loss to eventual Miss Volleyball Alisha Glass and Leland in the 2006 Class D Final. St. Phil has won every Class D title since.
“I just remember that game, how crazy it was,” McKinzie said. “I never really thought, ‘Wow, some day that’s going to be me.’”
But Groat had an idea. She’d watched McKinzie during summer camps and as the junior high athletic director, and brought the then 5-9 hitter up to varsity as a freshman. McKinzie was a little erratic at that point – “I’d have games where I’d hit one out, get frustrated and keep swinging harder and it would not go where I wanted it to,” she said – but has turned into a kill machine.
She’s connecting on 49 percent of her kill attempts for the second straight season – a far cry from her 22 percent efficiency as a freshman – and is approaching her best season of 699 kills. She already has posted career highs of 429 digs, 41 blocks and 130 aces.
And it’s not like she’s built her numbers against meager competition. No small-school team in any sport takes on the biggest powers like the Tigers do each fall. They are 68-2-1, with those losses coming during the second weekend of the season to Class A No. 9 Livonia Churchill and then two weeks ago to Class A No. 1 Richland Gull Lake after St. Phil had beaten the Blue Devils the week before. The tie came against Class B No. 6 Wayland.
McKinzie also played basketball through her sophomore season, and started, before focusing solely on volleyball. The drive to win that Groat noticed long ago stretches into just about everything, even “the little things.” McKinzie joked that she’d like to win more at ping-pong – but then explained, ‘No, I’m pretty good at that too.”
That scenario mentioned by McKinzie above – the shots sailing beyond her control – still happens sometimes. But she’s learned control. She’s tough to stop because she’s so powerful. Groat said “she’s kinda mean” before laughing immediately. But the confidence McKinzie has built over the last four seasons is obvious every time she takes the floor.
“I just feel it. I kinda get nervous in a way, a nervous exciting feeling,” McKinzie said. “That’s my favorite way to play.”
PHOTO: Battle Creek’s St. Philip’s Amanda McKinzie blocks a hit during last season’s Class D Semifinals at Kellogg Arena.