Southfield's Ware on Point
December 16, 2011
At 15-0, Jade Ware began to realize where Friday’s second game against Southfield might be headed.
At 20-0, her Southfield volleyball coach Dana Cooper did too.
At 23-0, the Bluejays’ fans were about the boil over. Two points later, they did.
No category exists in the MHSAA volleyball record book for consecutive points served. But it’s fair to say few if any have accomplished what Ware did during her team’s District final win – serve all 25 points, without stop, in her team’s shutout victory in the second game.
“The day of, I got a little nervous about the game. I told my team I’d never been so nervous, and they told me it’s a good thing. It means I was going to do something good today,” Ware said. “Everybody made such a big deal of the game (going in). ... I put so much pressure on myself the day of. People were coming up to me (saying), ‘Are you ready? Are you ready?’
“After the first couple of balls go over, it all goes away.”
The Bluejays had outlasted Berkley 25-20 in the match’s first game when Ware began serving the second. The 25-0 win gave her team a 2-0 advantage. Berkley served to start the third game, but Southfield scored the first point. Ware then served the next five points of that game too as the Bluejays went on to finish the victory 25-19.
The win gave Southfield its fifth-straight District championship and advanced the Bluejays to this week’s regional at Lake Orion. Southfield won the first four of those District titles under coach Alisha Love, who stepped down after last season. Dana Cooper took over this fall, and during an early October practice began teaching Ware her new game serve – a jump serve with top spin.
“I knew she had the power to do a jump. She mastered it almost immediately,” Cooper said. “There’s so much top spin on it, some of her balls fall just on the other side of the net.”
“Correctly? I just started doing it a month ago. That’s why I was so amazed,” Ware added.
Ware totaled 13 aces over the three games, tying her for 14th on the MHSAA list for a best-of-five match. She also had 12 digs, and set up teammate Cassadine Reed for the winning kill in that second game. Ware, both a hitter and a setter (the latter along with senior Nicole Rashleigh) in Southfield’s offense, had the match-winning kill in the third.
Hitting is Ware's favorite volleyball skill, although she said she loves how an ace helps her team. She’d hit strings of five good serves in a row leading up to Friday, but that night was the first time her serve had been so consistent over the course of an entire match.
“The only time I’d smile was after an ace or a kill,” Ware said. “I guess I was in my zone. Nothing was getting to me.”
Click to see the MHSAA volleyball record book listings.
(Photos courtesy of Terry McNamara Photography and the Ware family.)
Performance: Southfield Christian's Emily Van Dyke
November 22, 2019
Emily Van Dyke
Southfield Christian senior – Volleyball
The 5-foot-11 outside hitter helped Southfield Christian to its third straight Division 4 Regional title with 15 kills and 10 digs against Allen Park Inter-City Baptist in the Semifinal and 20 kills in the championship match against Marine City Cardinal Mooney to earn the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.” The Eagles’ tournament run came to an end in a Thursday Semifinal loss to Mendon, and Van Dyke will graduate as her school’s record holder in a variety of categories including career kills, digs and aces.
Van Dyke joined the varsity as a freshman, and the team’s Regional title in 2017 and Semifinal trip in 2018 both were program firsts. She finished this season with 556 kills, 349 digs and 46 aces, and finished her career with 1,641 kills, 1,357 digs and 282 aces – the career kills and aces qualifying for the MHSAA record book. She nearly reached her school single-match record of 32 kills in the Semifinal, tallying 31 along with 16 digs as the Eagles lost a five-set heart-breaker to the reigning Division 4 champion Hornets. Southfield Christian finished the season 29-8-4 and went 111-34-12 over her four seasons with one league (this season) and four District titles to go with the three Regional championships.
The Eagles enjoyed a rare but beneficial setup this fall as Van Dyke was joined by five more seniors in the starting lineup, with the team’s other four players all sophomores. She’s grown up with volleyball – her parents both played at the college level, and her father Mike Van Dyke is Southfield Christian’s coach. After making the Division 4 all-state second team as a sophomore and first team as a junior, Emily likely is in line for another high honor this fall – and she also signed last week with Division I Abilene Christian University in Texas. She carries a 4.0 grade-point average and plans to study one of the sciences.
Coach (and dad) Mike Van Dyke said: “It’s good and bad (to be coach and Dad), because she ends up getting coached at practice and coached at home. Her mom and I both played volleyball in college, so she got a lot of feedback early and throughout her volleyball (development). … (But I’m most impressed by) just her willingness to be coached and to learn – she keeps working to improve her game. She still hasn’t plateaued. She gets better and better. We’re excited to see her playing in college.”
Performance Point: “It was a lot of pressure on the team, being six seniors. But we prepared and we did our absolute best coming up to today,” Emily Van Dyke said after Thursday’s Semifinal. “This year, I’ve been focusing on how to be a better leader. It’s not about your words; it’s about your actions. So whether I’m doing my best to get a kill or going up every time to get a block, (it’s) just anything I can do to contribute to them and bring everybody up.”
They bring me up too: “(I’ll remember) all the crazy things our team has done or gotten into. I love each of them individually. And I would never be here playing volleyball at this level if it wasn’t for them.”
Dad’s known best: “Sometimes it’s been a little rough (with him as coach too), but I wouldn’t pick a different coach in the world. I loved playing for him, and it’s really been a blast. I’ve loved all four years of high school volleyball.”
Texas, here I come: “It’s a long story, but our JV coach is from Texas, and she said, ‘You would love Texas; just look.’ So I started looking at schools everywhere, and then I found a couple in Texas I was interested in. So that’s how I ended up getting there – (and) Abilene just connected with me. I’m so excited to go down and keep playing volleyball.”
Thank you Eagles: “I think I’m going to miss the connection I have with all the players. Most of them I have in lots of my classes, so we’re friends outside of just the sport. … I wouldn’t trade this moment for the world. I’m so proud of my team.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Nov. 14: Taylor Wegener, Ida volleyball - Report
Nov. 7: Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Southfield Christian’s Emily Van Dyke winds up for a kill attempt during last week’s Division 4 Regional Final win over Marine City Cardinal Mooney. (Middle) Van Dyke works for a point during the Regional Semifinal against Allen Park Inter-City Baptist. (Photos by Dave Veldman/Southfield Christian.)