Chase Remains On Pace as Wroubel Ranks 2nd Among Nation's Winningest Active Coaches
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
September 18, 2026
PONTIAC — While the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep girls volleyball team pursues wins in Michigan this fall, parents, supporters and others around the program are also paying attention to what a program in Alabama is doing.
Why? It has everything to do with a prominent coaching record on the national level.
At the moment, it’s a nice neck-and-neck race to see who will finish this season as the active coach with the most wins nationally, Betty Wroubel of Notre Dame Prep or Ann Schilling of Bayside Academy in Daphne, Ala.
Going into the season, Schilling had 1,796 career wins, three more than Wroubel. As of Wednesday, Schilling had added 16 wins to her total to make it 1,812, while Wroubel added 14 for a grand total of 1,807.
The two are also third and fourth, respectively, on the overall all-time wins list nationally. Two coaches who are retired, Jodi Manore of Temperance Bedford (2,231) and Jack Magelssen of Portage Northern (1,832), top the list.
Schilling and Wroubel are fast approaching Magelssen, but if there is one person who isn’t too occupied with it all, it’s Wroubel.
Sure, she has a good laugh or smile when parents or other school officials have casually come up to her over the past few weeks to mention the situation. But as has been the case throughout her legendary career, there is a greater purpose for her.
“It’s the kids’ winning,” Wroubel said. “I get to facilitate a little bit. But it’s really about the kids, and I’ve been blessed with some really good kids here over the years and some coaches who have coached with me.”
Notre Dame Prep senior Nicole McDowell said trying to win so Wroubel can keep up with Schilling hasn’t really been talked about much among players this season. But that doesn’t mean the chase can’t provide a little more incentive the rest of the fall.
“That will help motivate us more,” McDowell said.
The head coach of Notre Dame Prep since 1994, Wroubel remains an institution for not only her school, but the volleyball coaching community statewide.
Wroubel has guided Notre Dame Prep to four Finals titles in Class B/Division 2, with the latest in 2021. When Notre Dame Prep won the Class B championship in 2007 (fall season), the Fighting Irish not only captured the school’s first volleyball title but became the first program in Oakland County history to win at the Finals.
“I just love being around the kids, and they provide the energy and keep you going,” said Wroubel, who is also the athletic director and varsity softball coach at Notre Dame Prep.
Even as eras and the sport have changed drastically, players have enjoyed playing for Wroubel as much as she’s enjoyed coaching them.
“She really is competitive and she’s hard on us, but she wants to win and all of her intentions are good,” said McDowell, who has committed to play collegiately for Rider University (N.J.) and is a returning all-state player. “Outside of volleyball, she is the most generous person I know.”
Time will tell if Notre Dame Prep (14-12-2) can continue to pile up wins this season for itself and Wroubel.
While the coaching wins angle could be a fun storyline for the program and its supporters to follow, it certainly won’t sway Wroubel from her ultimate objective to make her players better volleyball players and women.
“I just love my job,” she said. “I think this is where God has placed me. There’s a place where we’re all supposed to be, and this is part of my mission. This is where I’m supposed to be. God has blessed me with great support and great athletes, and I just love it here.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep girls volleyball coach Betty Wroubel encourages her team during a match last season against Warren Regina. (Middle) Wroubel, right, accepts the 2021 Division 2 championship trophy from Vicky Groat. (Top photo by KMS Photography.)
Monroe St Mary 'Lions' Roar in Repeat
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 16, 2021
BATTLE CREEK – The Kestrel is the official nickname of Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.
But as sports were put on pause late this past fall, the volleyball team found another animal to represent it and get it through the break.
“We definitely adopted some new mottos over the break,” senior middle hitter Abbie Costlow said. “We got a lion – our team represents a lion. And that’s really propelled us through this last run of the state playoffs. It’s really helped us and driven our focus.”
The Kestrels were lion-like Saturday, claiming their second straight Division 3 volleyball title with a dominant 25-19, 25-16, 25-8 win against Schoolcraft. It’s the seventh title for the program, and for the second-straight year they capped it off with a win against Schoolcraft in a matchup of the division’s top two teams in the rankings.
It also was the end of a dominant run this season for St. Mary, which won its final 23 sets and didn’t drop one throughout the postseason.
While the 2019 Final was a five-set thriller, this edition was dominated by St. Mary throughout, as it charged out to a 6-0 lead in the first set and never looked back. The Kestrels trailed only once through the entire match, as Schoolcraft took a 2-1 lead in the third set. That was immediately wiped out, however.
“As we talked pregame, it really didn’t matter what they were doing on their side; it mattered what we were doing on our 30-by-30 court,” St. Mary coach Karen O’Brien said. “It was important that we just came out strong for us.”
The Kestrels’ two-headed monster of Costlow and Mikayla Haut led a dominant attack, as Haut had 17 kills and Costlow had 14. Each were above 35 percent on their attacks, and the team was at 32.1 percent overall.
“For one, our passing and our defense was extremely good,” O’Brien said. “And then, with those two things, our setter has three options. We started off, in the beginning of the first set, I think Abbie had four or five kills in a row, and I don’t know if that caught them off guard a little bit, because normally we feed Mikayla at the beginning. Abbie got the first five swings, and I just think with our passing and our defense, and a lot of that has to do with Jaydin (Nowak) playing the back row, and Ava Kuehnlein and Mikayla in the back row, that they’re so used to each other and have such great chemistry. As long as we’re passing and playing defense, we can run anything that we want to. The defense on the other side just doesn’t know who it’s coming from.”
Nowak led the defense with 23 digs, while Haut – a Miss Volleyball finalist who is headed to Fairfield University in Connecticut – added 12. The Kestrels’ two setters were also busy, as Kate Collingsworth had 28 assists, and Grace Lipford had 12.
Kelby Goldschmeding led Schoolcraft with 15 digs, while Allie Goldschmeding had 12. Kayla Onken had 15 assists for the Eagles (37-4), and Maggie Morris finished with nine kills.
“I feel like at moments we won the serve and serve-receive battle, and that was a focus, but we couldn’t control it for the whole match,” Schoolcraft coach Erin Onken said. “I think we stayed as aggressive as we could. I thought Allie and Maggie really stayed aggressive attack-wise today. Kelby made some great saves back row for us. All in all, we just got beat by a great team that had a great day.”
Schoolcraft advanced to the final without playing a Semifinal, as Saginaw Valley Lutheran was forced to withdraw from the tournament earlier in the week. Both coaches agreed that getting to play Thursday was an advantage for the Kestrels, but Onken said it didn’t affect the outcome.
“That was a disadvantage, for sure, but that’s not why we lost or why we played how we did today at all,” she said. “We should have been able to walk in here with the kids who started last year and played here last year, as many as we had starting on the floor today, we should have been able to come out with a little bit more steam. So, yeah, that stinks, but it’s not a factor for today.”
Of course, both teams had the experience of 2019 to draw from, and it was something the St. Mary players also valued.
“You never can really prepare to play in a gym this big under the lights,” Haut said. “Usually, it’s a lot louder, so that was definitely different than last year. But when you play a game in Battle Creek before, it definitely helps you.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Monroe St. Mary’s Mikayla Haut follows through on a swing during Saturday’s Division 3 Final. (Middle) Schoolcraft’s Maggie Morris winds up at the net. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)