'Favorite' Just Fine for Monroe St Mary
November 9, 2018
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
MONROE – Karen O’Brien took the whole “rankings-don’t-matter” approach and threw it out the window this year.
And, for her Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central volleyball team, the method has worked.
SMCC took over the top spot in the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association Division 3 rankings in Week 3 after beating formerly top-ranked Bronson, the three-time reigning Class C champion.
The Kestrels appear to be thriving in the top spot.
“In my past years, when we have been ranked No. 1 or No. 2, I’ve kind of disregarded it,” said O’Brien, a veteran volleyball coach in her fourth year at SMCC. “I’d always say that it didn’t matter where we were ranked until after the season. But, this season, I took a different approach. This year, we’ve embraced being No. 1, that people are coming after us.
“We have a saying, ‘Embrace the Noise,’” she said. “The noise is people who are out to beat us. It puts a little more pressure on us, but I think we’ve responded well. Since our last loss, on September 15, we have won 25 straight matches. We haven’t lost a set during that time.”
SMCC is 44-3 on the season. The Kestrels captured multiple regular-season tournament titles, breezed through the Huron League without losing a set, won the District title and Thursday beat No. 10 Brighton Charyl Stockwell 25-15, 25-17, 25-20 for the 14th Regional championship in program history.
SMCC will move on to the Quarterfinals against fifth-ranked Manchester. Several ranked teams remain alive in the Division 3 tournament – but they are all looking up to SMCC.
“We’re looking at it like, ‘Hey, we’re glad we are No. 1. We’re ready. Give us your best,’” O’Brien said.
She said she changed approaches to the rankings because, simply, the last time the team tried to ignore being ranked No. 1 and it didn’t work.
“I’m always willing to try new things, a new approach,” she said. “If something doesn’t work, why not?”
Just about everything has been working for the Kestrels this season, starting with the right blend of four sophomores, four juniors and four seniors on the team.
“It’s a unique group,” O’Brien said. “There is a lot of unity and a good blend of personalities.”
Maddie Haut and Abby Jackson are the senior co-captains.
“Their leadership has just worked very well,” O’Brien said. “This is the closest group that I’ve had since I’ve been here. Everyone knows their role, they understand their role and they do their role well. There’s no selfishness on this team. That’s a huge part of (the success). All 12 girls know their role, and their parents know their role. There’s no drama with this group.”
Maddie Haut leads the team in blocks, followed closely by Kylie Barron. Maddie’s sister Mikayla is a sophomore with enormous potential and leads the team in kills, averaging 4.4 a set, and aces with nearly 90. Jackson averages more than 4.5 digs per set and senior Jessica Long and junior Sarah Reicker lead the team in assists.
SMCC has been able to have amazing focus all season.
“Volleyball is such a game of momentum,” O’Brien said. “Not just from set to set, but from rally to rally. We’ve been down in a set, and we’ve been able to come back. We’re pretty good at just rolling with the punches.”
O’Brien is a Livonia native and was the first female athlete in Stevenson history to earn nine varsity letters. She was a first-team all-state volleyball player in 1981 and also played basketball and competed in track & field. She played college volleyball first at Schoolcraft Community College and then at the University of Georgia. The two-time All-Southeastern Conference pick coached at Georgia for two years before moving back to Michigan and becoming an assistant coach at Michigan State University in the late 1980s.
She was the University of Toledo’s head volleyball coach for five seasons and later coached at Siena Heights University and served a couple of stints as an assistant at Eastern Michigan University. She coached the Dundee High School volleyball team for nine seasons and became head coach at SMCC in 2015.
Her and her husband, Dan, started the Teal Attack to raise money for the Michigan Ovarian Cancer Alliance after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015. The program has raised more than $130,000 and has events at fundraisers at various Michigan high schools and colleges.
The Kestrels have won four straight District titles under O’Brien and played in the 2015 Class C Final, falling to Bronson in three sets decided by four points or fewer.
SMCC has been a state volleyball powerhouse for several years, winning championships in 2003, 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2014 and producing several college volleyball players. A handful of this year’s squad will likely move on to the next level as well, including the senior co-captains.
The Kestrels have had some spirited practices this season, O’Brien said. While the first halves of practices often begin with routine ball-handling drills and teaching technique, practices usually end with some highly-competitive drills.
“We will go after one another,” she said. “The girls are competitive. I always tell them to make the other person better because that will make the team better.”
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: Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central coach Karen O’Brien instructs her team Thursday during a timeout in its Regional Final against Brighton Charyl Stockwell. (Photo by Tom Hawley).
Monroe St. Mary's Proves 'This is the Year' by Clinching 8th Finals Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 23, 2024
BATTLE CREEK – McKenna Payne had a feeling she and her Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central teammates could be making a third trip to Kellogg Arena for this season’s Division 3 Volleyball Final Four.
She also felt it could end on a much brighter note than each of the last two trips.
The Kestrels proved that feeling to be prescient Saturday, sweeping Traverse City St. Francis 25-21, 25-20, 25-15 to claim the Division 3 title.
“All through this year, we were saying this is the year,” Payne said. “We were here our freshmen year, lost in the Finals. We didn’t make it past quarters my sophomore year, and we didn’t make it past semis last year. So, this year, I’m so proud of everyone. I’m so proud of me, Maddie (Dettling) and Jessie (Costlow) and the whole team. We all did it together.”
It was the eighth volleyball championship for the Kestrels in eight trips to the championship match, and first since title since 2020.
“I felt like this year we focused a lot on being together and working together in everything,” said Costlow, who was also on that 2021 team that finished Division 3 runner-up. “You can’t have offense without your defense, and you can’t have defense without blocking. So, we really had to work off of each other and just keep pushing the whole time.”
Costlow led the SMCC attack with 15 kills while pitching in 12 digs on defense. Alexa Turner had 20 assist for the Kestrels, while Payne stuffed the stat sheet with 13 digs, eight kills and eight assists.
SMCC was dominant for much of the season, finishing 39-4-1, but was especially so during the postseason, sweeping all but one opponent – Cass City in Friday’s Semifinal – on its way to the title.
“I think it was just working hard at practice,” Dettling said. “Every day, we were just being disciplined and watching film and being smart. Everything just came together.”
Those film sessions included watching the Gladiators’ Semifinal win against Kalamazoo Christian, even though the Kestrels were there to see it in person.
While that proved fruitful, Traverse City St. Francis did take a bit of a different approach Saturday.
“After watching their match yesterday, we were surprised that they utilized their middle as much as they did today,” SMCC coach Kim Windham said. “We anticipated they would go more to their outsides. I think (TCSF junior outside hitter Quinn Yenshaw) was set 70 times yesterday, so we expected them to be more of an outside game, and they were definitely more middle. I think the opportunity for us to play against (Cass City senior Shelby Ignash) yesterday helped us prepare for today’s match, for sure.”
Gladiators sophomore Lola Brown was the focus of that attack through the middle, and did finish with eight kills on 21 attempts, while Yenshaw had 12 on 36 attempts, as junior setter Reese Jones (who finished with 14 assists) spread the ball around.
But it wasn’t enough to overcome a Kestrels team that was hitting on all cylinders, and finished with .219 kill percentage on its 114 attacks.
“St. Mary’s is just an amazing team,” St. Francis coach Kathleen Nance said. “They have amazing ball control, they’ve got great hitters, and we just weren’t able to have an answer for that today.”
Avery Nance finished with 14 digs on the day for the Gladiators, who were making their second-straight trip to the Finals after finishing runner-up a year ago as well.
“We’re second in the state; there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Kathleen Nance said. “St. Mary’s played better than we did today, and they earned the first-place spot, and we were second. We were the last two standing – what’s to be ashamed about? Nobody wants to lose, especially for those that this is their last time to ever play; no one wants that. But I’m proud of everything we accomplished this year. Because there were a lot of people who thought we couldn’t, and they proved them wrong.”
PHOTOS (Top) Monroe St. Mary’s McKenna Payne (11) and Olivia Beaudrie (2) wall off the top of the net as Traverse City St. Francis’ Landry Fouch (7) connects during Saturday’s Division 3 Final. (Middle) St. Francis’ Reese Jones (2) tips the ball over the net. (Below) Jessica Costlow serves for the Kestrels. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)