After Injury Brings Past Standout Home, Slack Takes Milan on Historic Trip
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
November 21, 2023
MILAN – Makenna Slack turned 21 in August, just days before she started her first season as the Milan volleyball coach.
Little did she know that four months later she would lead the Big Reds to their greatest season in school history.
“I think this season, this run, over the last three weeks, as a Milan player or coach, this was the biggest high I’ve seen from the Milan program,” Slack said. “It was an amazing run and amazing year. It was the best way we could have represented Milan.”
Milan never had won back-to-back District championships before these last two seasons, and never had won a Regional title. Slack’s Big Reds ended up going 29-7-2, finished second in the Huron League behind perennial power Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, won District and Regional titles and reached the Semifinals at Kellogg Arena.
Milan ended up bowing out with a loss to Grand Rapids West Catholic, ending the season as one of the four remaining teams left in Division 2.
How the Big Reds got there made the postseason run even more remarkable.
Slack played four varsity seasons at Milan after moving to the area in eighth grade. She went on to play volleyball at Olivet College but suffered a devastating knee injury that cut short her career. She had knee reconstruction surgery.
“I basically couldn’t walk or drive for six months,” she said. “The recovery was going to take a year and a half to get back to being an athlete. I decided to cut my losses and moved home.”
Milan varsity volleyball coach Kathy Bradshaw knew Slack was home again and asked if she was interested in coaching. Bradshaw got the idea because she was the junior varsity coach at Milan when Slack was a senior player on the team.
“I was the varsity captain, and I’d come down and help run the practices sometimes,” Slack said. “That’s where I think she saw me as maybe a coach.”
It wasn’t her first coaching opportunity. While in high school she coached club volleyball as a way to earn extra money.
“As a high schooler, I didn’t really realize it, but I took on a little bigger role than most high schoolers do,” she said. “I had my own team, and we went to tournaments and stuff. It started there. It came natural to me. I felt comfortable teaching kids.”
She was the Milan JV coach for one season, then Bradshaw’s assistant in 2022 when Milan won its first District title since 1999 and reached the Regional Final. Not long after last season, Bradshaw stepped down but encouraged Slack to apply for the head coaching position. Slack wasn’t sure.
“It seemed like a lot, and I’m so young,” Slack said.
“I ended up applying and got the job. After really thinking about it, I ended up taking it. We have a huge support system in the community. The athletic director is amazing, there is a really good booster group. Feeling the support all around me, I ended up taking the job.”
She had her 21st birthday during the annual MHSAA preseason downtime at the start of August. The following week she was running tryouts for the volleyball team.
Milan had a good season.
“When we were going through league play, we were a solid unit,” she said. “We would win the games we were supposed to win and lose the games we were supposed to lose. It became a little robotic. We weren’t really challenged. No one really challenged us, and we never really challenged anyone.”
Then came the District tournament and a first-round match against Lenawee County Athletic Association champion Adrian Madison. Madison took the first two sets, but Milan rebounded to win three straight and the match. Slack was surprised. She’s still not sure if the Big Reds upset Madison or if Milan was the favorite.
“That was such a huge moment,” she said. “It was very fulfilling. It felt like we were on top. Our postseason run was for sure the highlight of our season. The girls maxed out, their energy was maximum. It was definitely our highlight.”
Milan took another step the following week by winning the Regional, then beat Dearborn Divine Child in the Quarterfinals.
“The girls are an amazing group,” she said. “It’s the best group we’ve had since I’ve been there. The team bonding was strong, the camaraderie was strong. I have a lot of athletes on my team that understand goals and the process you have to do to get to the goal. Having a lot of athletes on board for the full ride made the difference.”
The Big Reds had just three seniors, including their best all-around player in Courtney Nye. They will return Malea Wourman, named the team’s best offensive player, and Lauryn Parris, named the team’s top defensive player.
Slack will graduate from Wayne State University soon and is unsure what her future holds. If she gets a job in the financial field, for example, her coaching career might be over.
“It’s really up in the air right now,” she said. “I don’t know if I’m going to move on with my life or stay in the coaching game. It’s a weird spot to be in.”
Slack loved her time at Milan, both as a player and being part of the coaching staff. If she does have to give it up for now, she can see herself returning to the sidelines someday. If not, she can step aside knowing she helped Milan to its biggest volleyball achievement to date.
“Working with young athletes and being able to guide them is something I truly enjoy,” she said. “I’m thinking at some point I’ll be back into the coaching game.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Milan volleyball coach Makenna Slack, kneeling, huddles with her team during last week's Division 2 Semifinal. (Middle) Slack surveys her team's play during its first trip to Kellogg Arena.
Fowler Seniors Make Childhood Dream Come True with 1st Finals Championship
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 22, 2025
BATTLE CREEK – The Fowler volleyball team called its shot in January, naming its group chat “State Champs.”
But the Class of 2026 has believed that was the endgame for much longer than that.
Behind the leadership of nine seniors, they made it happen Saturday, as the Eagles claimed the school’s first volleyball Finals title, sweeping Mendon 30-28, 25-19, 25-22 in the Division 4 championship match at Kellogg Arena.
“I think we’ve known the whole time that if we stick with it and we push each other, that we could do good things,” senior middle hitter Josie Simon said. “I think especially last year, we wanted to do it for those seniors, and that hurt us. We knew during that Regional Final game that it was the big game, so when we lost we knew we had to come in this year and we were ready to go. We knew what we were chasing.”
Saturday’s Finals appearance was just the second in school history for Fowler, and first since 2017. That year, Simon and her classmates were fourth graders, and several of them were at Kellogg Arena watching.
The following year, their own journey began.
“I’m super thrilled for them, and they literally have been talking about this since they were in the fifth grade when they started playing volleyball,” Fowler coach Patty Feldpausch said. “To want something so bad and know you have to stay focused, and know that mistakes don’t matter because the next ball matters, that’s a big deal. We don’t have our individual names on the back of their warm-up shirts. Their name is not on there because that’s not important. It’s what we’re doing together, that’s what’s important. They believed it, and that’s why we’re sitting at this table being the champions.”
While they’d rather not wait another eight years, the Eagles know they could have sparked that same drive and belief in a group of girls watching Saturday.
“Making history and showing little kids that it’s possible, like it’s hard, but we did it and they can do it,” senior Myah Pohl said. “For the kids that we waved at, and they supported us – they can do it, too.”
Those kids witnessed an incredible team effort that led to a title, as the Eagles had 10 players record a dig, and five add at least seven kills to the attack.
At the heart of that were a trio of seniors, as Paige Thelen had 21 kills, Rachel Wirth had 21 digs and Neelah O’Rourke had 48 assists.
Fittingly, that trio combined for the final dig, assist and kill of the game, as Thelen pounded home an O’Rourke set, which came off a Wirth pass, for match point.
O’Rourke’s 48 assists are the most in a three-set Finals match since the move to divisions in 2018.
“She’s the only player I hugged – we got rushed around,” Feldpausch said with a laugh. “She just did a great job today. Our defense was giving her good balls to feed and our hitters did a great job against their big block. Neelah just kept her composure. She was amazing, she did great.”
Skylar Fowler was a big part of that attack as well, recording 10 kills, while Pohl had nine, Elizabeth Wirth had eight and Simon had seven. Selena Stump had 13 digs for the Eagles (36-8-2), with O’Rourke adding 12 and Thelen 11.
Most of the drama in the match came during the first set, as it took 30 points to settle it. While each point was tense, the final point featured a long back and forth that ended with a block from Simon and Stump.
“It’s tough to lose an opening set like that,” Mendon coach Kenneth Herbert said. “We’ve said it all season long, that we’re never out of a match. Even though we lost that first set, we felt from that moment we could still battle. And even to the last point, I felt that we were still battling. That’s all I can ask for out of these girls.”
Cienna Nightingale led the Mendon attack with 14 kills, adding 12 digs, while Gracie Shultz had nine kills and 19 digs. Karyssa Holtz had 24 assists for the Hornets (38-7-1), while Jadyn Samson had 20 digs.
“Good for them, they found our weaknesses and found ways to shut us down,” Schultz said. “We played as well as we could. I wouldn’t have done anything different. We gave everything on the court.”
PHOTOS (Top) Fowler’s Skylar Fowler (7) powers a kill past Mendon’s Gracie Schultz (7) and Sabrina Monroy (12) during Saturday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) The Eagles’ Paige Thelen (13) connects as Karyssa Holtz (3) and Lashell Blair line up to block.