Dakota's Snyder a High Flier
November 19, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Carli Snyder was easy to find for a few reasons in the minutes before Macomb Dakota finished its first championship run Saturday at Kellogg Arena.
She was the only member of her team warming up in a power blue T-shirt, for example. Then there were the secret handshakes, each one different for every other starter on the floor.
But the most obvious show-stopper was simply the ridiculousness with which the 6-foot-1 Snyder smashed every ball into the wood below.
Especially at the high school level, an uncommon athlete is easy to spot. Snyder, a two-time all-stater who led the Cougars to the Class A title Saturday, is that athlete. She put the finishing touches over the weekend on one of the best hitting seasons in MHSAA volleyball history. And by this time next year, we might be calling her a two-time champion – and Miss Volleyball.
“Her sophomore year, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s so (good).’ And then coming into this year, you didn't think she’d get that much better,” Dakota coach Tracie Ferguson said. “It’s just amazing how much she’s gotten better. I didn't think it was possible because she was so good last year.
“It’s just her mentality on the court and her leadership on the court and just keeping those girls calm and saying, ‘ We've got this.’ She’s grown so much since she was a freshman, on the mental part of it.”
Snyder gets a Second Half High 5 for leading her team to an unprecedented height. Unofficially, she finished this fall with 913 kills – good for seventh for one season in MHSAA history since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. She had 31 kills in the Final, third most for a championship match since the scoring change. She also tallied 14 digs and three aces.
But this season, she took on something more that helped the Cougars go farther than they ever had during the 17-year history of the school.
“When I was a freshman in high school, we’d joke, ‘Freshman Carli lets out’ when I’d yell at the ref or something. I used to pull on my ears. I’d flip out if I did something wrong,” Snyder remembered Saturday. “This year, if I made a mistake, it’s next ball. Everybody knows I've got this, and it’s not the end of the world.
“A couple of years ago, it really seemed like it was.”
Dakota finished 19-27-3 the season before Snyder started high school. With her as a freshman, the Cougars improved to 28-17-4. Last fall, Dakota finished 32-13-2 and won a Regional title. And this season’s final record was 59-5.
That’s not to say Snyder was the only reason for the success. Half of Dakota’s starting lineup was seniors, and Snyder is one of four juniors talented enough to break into the main rotation. The rest of the lineup combined for 19 kills, and junior setter Megan Manuerski had 43 assists to also rank on the MHSAA Finals record book list.
But Snyder was the playmaker. Bedford managed only five blocks against Dakota. Snyder had only two errors on 54 attacks for an incredible .537 kill percentage.
“She’s pretty darn good. I wish she was a senior,” joked Bedford coach Jodi Manore, who has seen her share of big hitters over 28 seasons. “She was up over the top of us.”
Everyone knows by this point that Snyder is going to be on the attack just about every time. She had 50 of her team’s 94 kills on the weekend. Defenses are rarely caught off-guard. “It’s difficult. But I've played volleyball for a while so I’m not used to it, I’d say, but it’s kind of expected,” Snyder said. “And Megan, she puts the ball where sometimes the other team doesn't know. She holds the block so well."
Snyder will no doubt enter next season among favorites for that Miss Volleyball award, along with Battle Creek St. Philip hitter Sierra Hubbard-Neil among those who claimed championships over the weekend. Snyder also has already committed to play at the University of Florida, the Southeastern Conference champion this fall.
And she'll get plenty more chances to add to her legacy as the Cougars likely will enter next fall as Class A favorites again.
“Physically, yeah, she’s hitting the ball harder. She’s jumping higher. Absolutely,” Ferguson said. “But that’s going to continue as she grows.
“But the mentality part of it, she’s just such a great player to play with. You want her on your team. She’s just such a motivator and a confidence builder for the rest of them. She really led the way.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Macomb Dakota's Carli Snyder (5) celebrates a point with her team during Saturday's championship match. (Middle) Snyder swings on one of her many kills attempts against Temperance Bedford.
St. Phil Makes History with 8 Straight
November 23, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Sierra Hubbard-Neil finished the final roundhouse swing of her high school career and was on the Kellogg Arena floor with the rest of her Battle Creek St. Philip teammates Saturday before the ball hit the floor.
As with many of her swings during a four-year all-state career, this one finished a point – and one of the most historic victories during St. Philip’s heralded run.
That final kill sealed a 25-19 Game 3 win over Waterford Our Lady and another Class D title for the Tigers – their eighth straight, which tied Marysville’s teams from 1997-2004 for the longest championship streak in MHSAA volleyball history.
Although it’s debatable how much anyone believed it, some said St. Philip might have a tougher challenge this fall after graduating seven seniors in the spring including six starters and Miss Volleyball Amanda McKinzie. But despite only Hubbard-Neil as a returning starter, the Tigers simply rolled on with three more seniors taking on bigger roles.
“Everyone looks up to the seniors. The seniors are just like top dogs,” Hubbard-Neil said. “They lead the younger ones, and they try to keep that motivation through them and keep the enthusiasm to keep the tradition going.”
And so it did, in another way as well. The title was the ninth for St. Philip coach Vicky Groat, tying the total won by her mother, former Tigers coach Sheila Guerra, who died in 2006 but is frequently noted by Groat for her enormous influence on the program and its current coach.
St. Philip finished this run 64-7-2 while again playing some of the best from every class in the state – among those victories were wins over the top-ranked teams in both Class B and Class C at the end of the regular season, Hudsonville and Mendon, respectively.
“Marysville always has been a wonderful program. It’s an honor to be up there with them,” Groat said. “It’s pretty special, but I’m just glad we got nine. I wanted this one so badly for these girls, and to match my mom.
“She was an amazing coach, and I learned so much from her. Just to be on the same level as her; we have nine together, 18 as a family, and that’s pretty special."
The last time a team took St. Philip to a fourth game in a Final was 2007. But after beating back nerves during a first-set 25-12 loss, Our Lady gave the Tigers plenty to consider.
The Lakers were playing in their first MHSAA championship game after returning to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2001. After the team scored only 12 points in the opening set, hitters Allison Samulon, Courtney Wightman and Kristina Krupiak fell into stride.
“They first game was necessary to get the nerves out,” said Samulon, who finished with seven kills. The second and third games we fought hard, and there were a couple of things we could’ve done differently. But I think the first game had to happen for it to work.”
The Lakers three times gained the lead during a 25-22 loss in the second set, and wouldn’t go away during the third scoring three straight points to pull within 23-19 and cause Groat to call an impassioned timeout.
She’d watched Our Lady come back multiple times during the Semifinal against Leland, which the Lakers beat in three sets by a combined eight points.
“You get to that point, and (the players) know what’s in sight. So I just relaxed them a little bit,” Groat said. “And they responded after that timeout.
“Coach (Angela) Williams and I were talking about how much we love this team, how special they are. They just keep battling and working hard and trying to prove people wrong, and they did that today.”
Hubbard-Neil finished with 19 kills on 31 attempts for a match hitting percentage of .516. She’ll be playing next season at Western Michigan University. Junior Emily Schaub capped her season with 26 assists, four aces and six digs, and senior libero Rachel Gallagher had nine digs.
Wightman, a sophomore, led the Lakers with 11 kills, five digs and three blocks. Our Lady (41-6-6) will graduate the rest of its starting hitters and setter, but return next fall with a new expectation after watching a number of other teams at the school have championship success over the years.
“Now we have a measuring point. The girls know how hard they have to work,” Lakers coach Stephanie Swearingen said. “The younger kids have watched as our success has grown. I think it’s really going to excite the school. Hopefully we’ll be back soon.”
PHOTOS: (Top) St. Philip’s Sierra Hubbard-Neil sends one of her 19 kills during Saturday’s championship match. (Middle) The Tigers celebrate their eighth straight Class D title. (Below) Waterford Our Lady senior Amanda Ludlow returns the ball.