Bronson Finds Class C Championship Mix
November 21, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Alexa Ratkowski wears jersey number 1, and so she was first through the hug line as Bronson accepted its Class C championship medals Saturday at Kellogg Arena.
She had a smile across her face until she hugged coach Jean LaClair and the first tears fell. Every teammate following her seemed to drop a few more.
Bronson often wasn’t the tallest or most physically intimidating team on the volleyball court this season, and especially the last few weeks. The Vikings even had to make up for graduating an all-state hitter this spring.
But they had other ingredients that make an MHSAA champion – most notably chemistry to go with a skillful mix of seniors through freshmen and an all-state setter like Ratkowski, who had 34 assists plus six kills in leading Bronson to a 3-0 sweep of reigning champion Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central – 25-22, 25-21, 26-24 – for its first title since 2009.
“Working together and just building with one another; all summer this is what we’d look forward to,” said Ratkowski, who ended this season with the third-most assists in MHSAA rally scoring history. “Playing throughout the season, we knew we were number one. But rankings didn’t mean it. It all came down to the state title and how we performed, and I think we performed to our ability.”
The Vikings did indeed hold the top ranking in Class C for the final two months of the season, finished 57-10-3 and added a league title after not winning their conference or making it out of their District a year ago for the first time since the winter 2006-07 season.
It was about a month into this fall that LaClair – who has coached at three schools over 22 seasons and went over 1,000 career wins in October – saw the makings of a championship contender.
“Early on in the season I think they were frustrated. But we have some freshmen, sophomores playing key roles, and it really took them some time to get into the mold of what varsity volleyball is all about,” LaClair said. “They get along so well. In girls sports, team chemistry is more important than anything else.
"The other thing, I think, is we have a lot of depth. I had some kids who came off the bench today to do some great things for us. That ability to go through 10 or 12 deep really helps in a big match like this.”
It definitely helped during Saturday’s first set as Bronson got down by as many as nine points. Senior outside hitter Kirin Cekander – who LaClair calls the team’s “energizer bunny” – admittedly got off to a rough start. But some switches helped the Vikings pull together a 21-9 swing to win the first set – with Cekander getting kills for two of the final four points.
“The first game just set the stage in all of us,” Ratkowski said. “We were down by eight, and we said this is not it. We’re not letting down.”
Bronson trailed again by two points midway through the second set, but broke away for the final four points, including a pair of kills by sophomore outside hitter Kiana Mayer.
The teams were tied 24-24 in the third set before junior Jill Pyles and then Cekander drove the final points home.
“All the sets were close. It was different for us; we had leads. Maybe that was the difference – we had too many leads in each set,” SMCC coach Karen O’Brien said. “We just couldn’t finish them. We just couldn’t put them away. A couple points here, a couple points there really was the difference.”
Cekander finished with 11 kills and Pyles had nine, but Mayer added eight and junior Allison Sikorski added seven. Cekander also had a team-high 15 digs.
“We have a lot of people who can come off the bench and play like they’ve been playing the whole game,” Cekander said. “We have a lot of people practicing in different places, so we have four outside hitters and a lot of people who can hit back and a lot of middles. We have a really good, flexible team.”
Senior Skylar Iott led three Kestrels in double-figure kills with 15, while seniors Regan Hodgson and Nicole Pollzzie both added 10. Senior Abby Thompson had 15 digs.
St. Mary (37-9-1) played in its eighth MHSAA Final but first with former assistant and Division I college head coach O’Brien running the program. She inherited a strong group of seniors she and retired coach Diane Tuller nurtured last season who then came up big this fall.
“After last year, losing as many seniors that contributed a lot, our seniors stepped up this year,” O’Brien said. “Skylar, Nicole, Regan, Abby and then Rose (Kemmerling) – Rose was our manager last year. You go from manager to being setter in the state finals. I think that just says a lot about her character.”
PHOTO: (Top) Bronson’s Kirin Cekander tries to drive the ball through the block of Merina Poupard (15) and Nicole Pollzzie. (Middle) SMCC’s Skylar Iott goes for a kill with Bronson’s Kiana Mayer (10) and Jill Pyles blocking.
Grand Rapids Christian Returning to Semifinals, Ready for Next Challenge
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
November 20, 2025
GRAND RAPIDS – A Regional exit from the MHSAA Tournament last year wasn’t necessarily the norm for the Grand Rapids Christian volleyball program.
The returning players aimed to change that and get the Eagles back where they are typically found during the final weekend of the season.
Grand Rapids Christian will make its return to the Semifinals in Battle Creek after defeating Tecumseh 3-2 in Tuesday’s Division 2 Quarterfinal.
It will be the Eagles’ fifth Semifinal appearance over the last seven years, but last season’s five-set loss to South Christian in a Regional Final has provided the fuel for this year’s tournament run.
“After that loss last year, it definitely wasn’t what we expected or wanted, and I think from the moment we lost that game all the returners just felt a different kind of hunger for next season,” Grand Rapids Christian junior standout Grace Goodyke said. “We were already talking about our plans and what we wanted to change and keep going forward with.
“I think we knew this was the season that we had the talent, and all the girls had a love for each other that was super special and we had the opportunity to go far. It came down to the work we were ready to put in.”
Eagles coach Amy Huisken, who returned eight players, said expectations were high coming into the season.
“This is one of the goals that our team set way back in the beginning of the season,” she said. “So this is where we expected to be and wanted to be. Every win and every loss was for this purpose.”
Goodyke, a three-year varsity player, has led the Eagles’ charge and amassed more than 500 kills.
She understood the winning tradition of the program as an incoming freshman. The Eagles won three consecutive Division 2 championships from 2018-20.
“I had to buy into the culture pretty quickly, and I think our upperclassmen did a great job of showing me about the legacy that they came into,” Goodyke said. “This season we talk a lot about playing for each other and just trusting everybody to do their roles. We are just super close, and we use that to our advantage.”
The Eagles have played this season without senior Mallory Bremer, who tore her ACL and MCL during club season. But a core of key players has stepped up to lead the way.
Junior captain Piper Cebulski has 490 assists and is nearing 1,000 for her career, while junior Taylor Frost has provided leadership on the court while reaching 1,000 assists during Districts.
Sophomore Mya McKinnon is a two-year starter in the middle and has a hitting percentage over .400.
“We obviously have talent, but if you don’t have anything to back talent then it doesn't take you too far,” Huisken said. “The girls know who they are playing for, and it's the person next to them. Everyone works so hard in their role, knowing it's what the team needs to be successful. No selfishness and everyone working for each other.”
The Eagles tied for the championship in the Ottawa-Kent Conference White, facing the likes of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
Grand Rapids Christian also has played against the top teams from the other side of the state.
“It makes us a battle-tested team, so we’re ready for tough moments,” Huisken said. “We do that on purpose, and we understand that our end result isn't going to say we're 25-0. But the losses are part of our story and how we got here. It's important for us to have that tough schedule, and we've had it throughout the tournament, too. There’s only one team we’ve played that hasn’t been ranked.”
The Eagles (36-9) will clash with reigning champion Detroit Country Day (27-9) in Friday’s Semifinal.
“They are a very good team,” Goodyke said. “I think we expect it to be a highly-competitive match. We do know that our coach has scheduled us against top teams in the state all season long, and our conference is pretty difficult so that prepares us as well.
“Those are the types of games we like. We’ve trained for those types of games, and I think we are ready to go out and just have fun and show the work that we’ve put in.”
Two more West Michigan teams advanced to this weekend.
Byron Center is in the Semifinals for the first time in 32 years after sweeping Ann Arbor Skyline 3-0 in a Division 1 Quarterfinal.
“This team is very special and their team chemistry is as good as any team I have ever coached,” Bulldogs coach Missy Ritz-Johnson said. “They are exceptional teammates that work very hard together, and their success is largely due to who they are as people and how much they care for each other. I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
The Bulldogs (37-5-2) will face Farmington Hills Mercy (40-5-3) today at 4:30 p.m., while Rockford (46-1-1) meets Bloomfield Hills (42-6-1) in the other Division 1 Semifinal.
The Rams, who lost to Northville in last year’s championship match, defeated Traverse City Central 3-0 in a Quarterfinal.
All four Finals are slated for Saturday.
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids Christian takes a photo with their newly-won Regional championship trophy last week. (Middle) The Eagles’ Grace Goodyke gets up for a kill attempt against Tecumseh during Tuesday’s Quarterfinal. (Photos courtesy of the Grand Rapids Christian girls volleyball program.)