After Record Finish, Onsted Off To Fast Start
October 19, 2020
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
ONSTED – Last season the Onsted volleyball team had about as impressive a season as it could.
The Wildcats started by not losing until early October – a 28-match win streak – and finished with a school-record 50 victories.
What are they doing for an encore?
How about a 24-2 start this fall, a tremendous showing at a big quad in Bronson and they are on the verge of back-to-back Lenawee County Athletic Association titles.
“We’ve played well at times,” Onsted coach Rhonda Hubbard said. “Everyone is making contributions to the team. We’re doing well in some areas. We're attacking the serve and we are doing the things we need to do, and we are winning.”
Still, Hubbard is never completely satisfied. She’s hoping for more from a team that returns six key players from last year’s 10th-ranked, record-breaking club that lost in the Division 2 District Semifinals to Parma Western.
Hubbard doesn’t want to see such an early exit this time around.
“We can’t just waltz in and let the same thing happen to us this time,” she said. “Yeah, we rolled last year but I know what we are capable of. We have to perform, and we have to be more consistent.”
There was no long win streak to start the season as Onsted lost to Manchester on Sept. 11, the first day they played an official match. Since a loss to Erie Mason at Mason the following day, however, they have won 18 straight.
“We are 21-2, but I don’t think we should have lost to Manchester,” Hubbard said. “We should have had that one.
“We have to start bringing it in practice more often. We aren’t consistent. I can sometimes be unhappy with how we practice. That’s how we are going to improve.”
Mya Hiram and Kayla Ross are the senior co-captains. Hiram was third-team all-state in volleyball last year and followed that up with an all-state season in basketball. She’s bound for a college basketball career – she's committed to Ferris State University – but not before she leaves her mark on Onsted’s volleyball team.
She’s getting close to the career kills record, and she and Ross are Nos. 2-3 on the Wildcats’ career digs list.
The team’s biggest day came at Bronson when the Wildcats beat the host school, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian and Niles. They also beat Homer and Stockbridge earlier in the season and have collected wins over state-ranked Lenawee Christian and traditional LCAA championship contender Ida. Onsted also has a nonleague win over Adrian Madison, who has run its Tri-County Conference winning streak into the 30s. The Wildcats are likely to face the Trojans again in the upcoming county tournament.
Ross and Izzy Kisor both are serving at a 93.8-percent clip, while Hiram has 39 aces, Kate Gorney 21 and Kennedy Ross 20.
In attacking, Hiram has compiled 246 kills, an average of 3.56 per match. Hiram also has 208 digs, which is just ahead of Kayla Ross, who has 200. Kamryn Ross leads the team in assists, at 8.3 per match. Ruby Foster has been “block city,” Hubbard said, and added that Kayla Ross, Kisor, Kennedy Ross and Hiram lead the team in service points.
Hubbard is an Adrian graduate who teaches at Onsted. She’s attended Eastern Michigan University on a track scholarship. She won the 2019 county Coach of the Year award after the team broke the previous school records of wins, 46 from 2012.
Hubbard said the fewer matches this season is affecting the slow development of the team. She did say there is still time remaining for the Wildcats to piece together a stronger ending to the season than last year.
“We are down 33 to 35 sets than last year at this time,” she said. “Teams don’t want to play three out of five. They want to play two of three, which I don’t think a varsity team should be doing, at least on the weekends. Our dates are all full; we just haven’t played as much.”
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.
PHOTO: Onsted’s Mya Hiram unloads over the net for a spike during a past season. (Photo by Dolores Clark-Osborne.)
Volleyball Joins GR Christian Title Lore
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 17, 2018
BATTLE CREEK – Maria Bos’ eyes locked onto the MHSAA Division 2 volleyball championship trophy Saturday like they had locked onto every ball set her way that afternoon.
Although rather than spike it to the ground like she successfully did 21 times in the championship match, she joined her Grand Rapids Christian teammates in embracing and lifting the wooden mitten that previously had eluded the program.
“It doesn’t honestly feel real,” the senior outside hitter said. “You’re very tense the entire time, but still relaxed at the same time. All that tension just kind of lets itself go all at once, and I’ve been dreaming about this for all four years of high school. For it to finally happen on the last match of my senior year, it gets me, and it’s just the best.”
The Eagles swept 2017 Class B champion Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 at Kellogg Arena to claim the first Finals championship in program history. It also was the first time the Eagles had ever played in a Final, and rather than shrink from the moment, they soared.
“We kind of in our minds projected that we would be here,” Eagles coach Tiffannie Gates said. “We knew Notre Dame Prep was an amazing team, so we just talked about before we came out, no fear, just play aggressive, play to win and don’t try to worry about the outcome. Just play hard.”
Grand Rapids Christian (46-5) entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in the division, but the level of dominance against a veteran Irish team that had won 54 straight matches stunned most observers.
“We talked about mentally preparing for the fact to go five, and that it could be 16-14 in the fifth, and to not get down if they started to get a point run,” Gates said. “We made sure we played a very tough schedule this year, and we’ve beaten some really good teams, so we felt confident that we could battle these guys.”
The Eagles took control of all three sets relatively early, and then stifled any Irish attempt at a big run to get back into it – even in the third set when Notre Dame Prep made most every point interesting.
“They’re a very good team, as I’ve said all along, and they played well today,” Notre Dame Prep coach Betty Wroubel said. “We had a few hiccups. Every time we started to make a little bit of a run, we had an unforced error that would give them the ball back. I’m so proud of our kids; we had an awesome season. They played well, and we’re here – a lot of teams wish they were here. I’m proud of our kids. It’s the end of an era for these three seniors (Natalie Risi, Maria Famularo and Maddy Chinn), and that’s the saddest part.”
Chinn, who was named Miss Volleyball earlier this week, and Risi, who also finished in the top 10 in voting for the award, managed to get theirs in the attack, with Chinn tallying 17 kills and Risi 14. But the Eagles did a good job of staying away from Chinn’s blocking by attacking from multiple angles.
“That’s been our thing all year, running a fast offense,” Gates said. “I noticed that Betty moved Maddy to the right side to stop our outside hitters, so we did a good job of passing well enough to where we could run them out of the middle and avoid her big block for most of the night.”
Addie VanderWeide had 17 kills for the Eagles, adding three blocks. Lauren Peal had 12 digs, and Jordyn Gates had 38 assists and 29 digs to help her mom get her first coaching title.
“It was awesome,” Tiffannie Gates said. “I feel like they’re all my children right now. I really can’t point one out, I’m so proud of every single one of them. But, yeah, it was fun to be a part of it with her for sure.”
Risi added 12 digs for Notre Dame Prep (64-6), while Famularo had 14 assists and 14 digs, and Aly Borellis had 12 assists and nine digs.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids Christian hoists its first volleyball championship trophy Saturday at Kellogg Arena. (Middle) The Eagles’ Maria Bos (2) and Olivia Nedd (3) put up a block as Notre Dame Prep’s Maddy Chinn follows through on a kill attempt.