Volleyball: Fly like an Eagle
November 11, 2011
Nicole DeGrace knew that with her father Chip as Frankenmuth’s volleyball coach, the Eagles would go places.
But when he told them where he thought they were headed, she didn’t believe him.
At the end of tryouts in August, Chip DeGrace -- promoted this fall after more than a decade coaching at lower levels in the program -- told his new varsity players they'd finish this season at the MHSAA Finals in Battle Creek.
“I didn’t think much of it. He believed it, but we were like, ‘Are you serious?’” Nicole said. “I didn’t know how serious he was.”
Serious enough that the Eagles are one win from making his prediction come true.
Frankenmuth, by many accounts, is a basketball school when it comes to girls sports. But the Eagles are headed to the last week of the season after upsetting No. 4 North Branch in five games Thursday for a Class B Regional title at Mount Morris Junior High (25-19, 19-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-7).
It was just one arguably unexpected result in what’s turned into a tournament full of them. Canton upset reigning Class A runner-up Farmington Hills Mercy to win its first Regional ever, and Macomb Dakota and Charlevoix also won Regionals for the first time. Tecumseh won its first since 1992, with Lake Orion and Livonia Stevenson also needing at least a few decades to recall their last Quarterfinal berth. Saginaw Valley Lutheran’s Regional championship was its first since 1983.
Thursday’s win gave Frankenmuth just its third Regional title in program history. All three have come during the last seven seasons, but the Eagles never have advanced further. And beating North Branch to get another shot made it arguably the best win in program history, adding to a season during which the Eagles (53-9-3) have set a school record for victories with four more than the previous best.
“Without a doubt, it’s the fact we have eight seniors on the team. That is the reason,” Chip DeGrace said, explaining why the program has taken such a big step this fall. “It’s (just) a coincidence my daughter is one of them. These kids came into high school as freshmen, and the combination of athletic talent, intelligence, competitiveness, and love for volleyball, you could see it.”
Granted, North Branch graduated significant contributors from last season’s Class B runner-up team. But the Broncos annually are considered a state powerhouse, with an MHSAA championship in 2009 and a Class A runner-up finish in 2007 helping boost that reputation.
Despite defeating the Broncos on Sept. 21 and eventually winning the Tri-Valley Conference East championship – the Eagles’ first league title since 2002 – Frankenmuth remained unranked and in the Broncos' shadow heading into Districts. North Branch closed the regular season by beating the Eagles at the all-division TVC Tournament, right after Frankenmuth lost senior libero Morgan Trinklein – who DeGrace called the best defensive specialist in program history – to a knee injury.
But there also was good news for the Eagles. Frankenmuth won its District, then beat No. 10 Mount Morris to open Regional play. Senior Emily Wee, an MHSAA hurdles champion, came back from an injury two-thirds of the way through the regular season and has provided reinforcement to a strong front line -- Nicole DeGrace’s 654 kills make the MHSAA record book list, as do junior Maddy Mertz’ 155 blocks. Three defensive specialists have upped their play in Trinklein's absence. And although senior Addie Loftus’ 839 assists fall a bit short of record book mention, they are all the more impressive considering the Eagles use two setters in their offense.
Thursday's victory also came near the end of a four-year string that included three coaches and the many system and position changes that come with turnover. When senior Olivia Shelton killed the final point Thursday, Nicole DeGrace said the feeling was a mix of validation and pride.
The Eagles will carry both into Tuesday’s Quarterfinal against another perennial power, Marysville, on North Branch’s home court.
“I think we’ve kinda learned it’s not as much about thinking. It’s more about just playing,” Nicole DeGrace said. “Most of the time in our huddle with my dad now, it’s ‘Stop thinking, just play.’ And when that happens, it’s crazy. It’s just awesome.”
Click for interactive brackets for all MHSAA classes.
Click for the Flint Journal story from Thursday's Frankenmuth/North Branch match.
PHOTOS
(Top) Frankenmuth celebrates its third Regional title ever after defeating North Branch in five games Thursday at Mount Morris High.
(Below) Senior Morgan Trinklein (10) injured her left knee in the final regular season match, but played a big part in the Eagles' TVC championship run.
(Photos courtesy of Frankenmuth volleyball.)
Battle Creek St. Philip Reaffirms its Place Atop Division 4
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 20, 2021
BATTLE CREEK – The state’s winningest volleyball program is back to doing what it does best – winning consecutive MHSAA Finals.
Battle Creek St. Philip won its second-straight Division 4 volleyball title Saturday, sweeping Indian River Inland Lakes 25-17, 25-12, 25-8 at Kellogg Arena.
"For me, it’s just a whole different aspect now, seeing those little girls up in the stands,” St. Philip senior Brooke Dzwik said. “That was us at one point. They’re going to be the legacy. It’s not us anymore, it’s them. To really win so that they could see means a lot.”
St. Philip now has 22 Finals titles, including a record nine straight from 2007-14. If the win a year ago in a COVID-interrupted season wasn’t enough to prove the Tigers were back, Saturday’s dominant result should more than handle that.
“Last year everyone thought that we didn’t deserve the championship,” St. Philip senior Bailey Fancher said. “This year, there was no COVID (pause), there was nothing stopping us, so we wanted to prove everyone wrong that we were made to win both last year and this year’s state championships.”
St. Philip (40-11-1) entered the postseason ranked No. 3, and defeated No. 2 Athens in the Regional Final and No. 1 Adrian Lenawee Christian in the Quarterfinal just to get to Kellogg. Getting to play the underdog was a role the Tigers relished.
“We were the underdog all last year, too,” said Dzwik, who was one of five starters who returned from last year’s team. “Part of it is the competitive nature in all of us, that we wanted to prove everyone wrong, that we shouldn’t be the underdog.”
They were not the underdog Saturday, however, playing Finals newcomer Inland Lakes, which was coming off its first Regional title since 1995.
Inland Lakes (27-11-11) didn’t seem to be fazed by the moment early on, trading blows with the reigning champions, and even responding to a 4-0 run midway through the first set with a 4-0 run of its own, tying the score at 16. But following a timeout, St. Philip rattled off eight points in a row to take control and put the first set away.
From there, it was all Tigers.
“Our hitting wasn’t as powerful today – I think they got a little nervous and frazzled as things weren’t going their way,” Inland Lakes coach Nicole Moore said. “That’s a solid team that has great hitters that we weren’t adjusting to and getting touches on. That’s been our goal the whole time, and it’s worked most of the time, but today we just weren’t able to get those touches that we needed on those big hitters.”
For the Tigers, keeping the momentum when they got it was important, as St. Philip coach Vicki Groat didn’t want Inland Lakes to build confidence during the match.
“That’s a good team, and watching them on Thursday, there was no intimidation for them,” Groat said. “They were playing relaxed, they had nothing to lose, and they were the underdogs. In this stage, if you have them down, you have to keep the momentum going, keep the pressure on until the very end. I thought we did a good job of that today.”
Dzwik led the St. Philip attack with 14 kills, but Groat was impressed with how setter Rachel Myers spread the ball around throughout the match. Maddie Hoelscher (five kills), Alexis Snyder (five kills), Alex Kersten (four kills) and Makenzee Grimm (four kills) all helped to keep Inland Lakes off balance, and not allow it to focus solely on Dzwik. Kate Doyle led the St. Philip defense with 12 digs.
Natalie Wandrie had five kills and 10 digs to lead Inland Lakes, while Ryann Clancy had 11 digs. Alyssa Byrne finished with eight assists, and Olivia Monthei had four kills.
The disappointing finish didn’t take away from the historic season for the Bulldogs, as Byrne noted, “We played volleyball as long as we could.”
“We talked about before the game, we made this visual where we have this outer ring of people – northern Michigan volleyball, we’re the only people here, right,” Moore said. “We were representing them. We were representing our conference, our region, because not a lot of northern Michigan teams make it down here. We were the smallest school and the farthest school away, and I think we had a lot of blue in the stands, so that was really cool to see.”
PHOTOS (Top) St. Philip’s Makenzee Grimm (8) gets up a block as Inland Lakes’ Olivia Monthei (6) makes a play on the ball. (Middle) The Tigers’ Brooke Dzwik (9) connects, with teammate Baily Fancher (13) nearby. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)