Future in Hand, Hudson Ace Aiming High
August 30, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
HUDSON – Callie Bauer likes to make pros and cons lists.
When the Hudson High School athlete began making a list of whether she should commit to Western Kentucky University on a volleyball scholarship offer, she couldn’t find any cons.
“There are literally no cons for Western,” she said. “It checks off all the boxes. There’s no place I’d rather be going. … It was the only place that gave me intense butterflies.”
Bauer is only a junior, so Western Kentucky will have to wait on her volleyball skills. For now, they are on display in southeast Michigan and the Lenawee County Athletic Association. And, those skills keep getting better. As a sophomore, she was a unanimous all-LCAA first-team selection, selected as the Lenawee County Player of the Year and made the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association’s Division 3 first-team all-state squad.
For the Tigers last season, Bauer had 712 kills and hit .396 on 1,353 attempts. She also had 446 digs and 415 assists. For Hudson, she’s known as a powerful outside hitter. In college, the 5-foot-11 Bauer expects to transition to setter.
“It’s sort of funny that around here people know her for hitting, but she’s going to college as a setter,” said her mother, Tricia Bauer. “Who knows? Maybe when she gets to Western Kentucky, they’ll see her as a hitter.”
Her mother, who played on Hanover-Horton’s Class C championship team in 1989, was Callie’s first volleyball coach. Callie started at the YMCA in Adrian as an 8-year-old.
“My mom definitely spurred it in me,” she said. “I think I just had a knack for it.”
As she improved in volleyball, so did her playing opportunities. She joined a Toledo, Ohio, club program for the offseason and eventually began playing with Impact Volleyball Club out of Fort Wayne, Ind. It takes nearly two hours to get to Fort Wayne for practice three nights a week, but it’s been a great experience, Bauer said.
“It’s pretty far to drive,” she said. “But, it’s the coaches, honestly. It’s a small club, just two teams. Everyone drives that far to be a part of it. I’m not the only one. The girls there are so good.”
Most of the drives from Hudson to Fort Wayne are with her mother. Last season Bauer also played basketball in the winter, which made for some hectic nights. After school, she’d go to basketball practice, then jump in the car and head to Fort Wayne for volleyball. On most of those nights, she’d get home after 11:30 p.m., shower and start all over the next day.
Club volleyball also has produced a lot of family time for the Bauers. This past club season, the family tagged along on trips to Chicago, Louisville, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Florida.
“It’s a great time to be together,” said her father, Jim Bauer. “We just get all packed in the car and drive. It’s a lot of good family time. You look forward to it.”
Jim Bauer played basketball at Hillsdale College before jumping right into coaching. Between his years at Pittsford and Morenci, he accumulated more than 200 wins. His 2014-15 Morenci team made it to the Breslin Center and played for the Class D championship. He stepped away from coaching basketball a couple of years ago to be sure he didn’t miss out on watching Callie play.
Being brought up in a house with two coaches has been a good experience, Callie said.
“When I first started, they would get on me more,” she said. “Now they are just supporters. I get my competitiveness from them. But, I’m hard enough on myself. I’m my own worst critic. They don’t need to be hard on me.”
It’s hard to find too much fault in Bauer’s game. This month she was named to an elite preseason All-American volleyball list.
“I was super happy about it and proud of it, but I kind of put it in the back of my mind,” she said.
Her dad said seeing her name on that list was special.
“I don’t think she realizes the magnitude of being on an ‘All-American’ list,” he said. “When I was a player, I couldn’t dream of making an All-American list. It’s amazing, really.”
Bauer isn’t worried about burning out of volleyball even though she plays year-round. When she feels herself getting to that point, she knows what to do.
“This past summer I had one of those experiences,” she said. “I was at a volleyball camp, where you eat and sleep volleyball the whole seven days. It was a lot. … When I get to that point, I take a step back and I don’t go into the gym for a week. I’ll go biking or painting or just do something else. I spend a lot of time doing volleyball, so I have to be careful.
“People ask me what I like to do in my free time, and I say, ‘free time?’”
Being committed to Western Kentucky – the second-winningest Division I program in the nation over the last 10 years – has taken some stress off Bauer’s shoulders.
“Now that I’m committed, club volleyball is less stressful for me. When you go to the tournaments, you see the college coaches on the sidelines and you think, ‘Oh boy, I hope they like me.’ Now that I have that secured and everything, I just play.
“I have a lot of work to do before I get there. I’m not going to step back. I’m probably going to get into the gym more now that I am committed. It’s a whole different mentality. It’s not so much just doing it for my high school team or club team or anything. I have something I can look to on the horizon. Two years from now I’m going to be playing against college teams. I’ve got to get ready. It’s another layer of motivation.”
Hudson is coming off a 38-win season but is younger this fall. As a two-year starter already, Bauer will be looked to by Tigers coach Shelly Hoard to be more of a leader.
“She’s continued to improve her game,” Hoard said. “She is definitely bringing a lot more leadership this year. She’s a great team member. Her whole understanding of the game, people’s roles and people’s capabilities and the opponent is better.
“She’s the real deal.”
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) Hudson’s Callie Bauer, one of the state’s top juniors, fires a serve. (Middle) Bauer sets for a teammate during a match against Dundee. (Top photo by Matt Sisoler; middle courtesy of the Bauer family.)
Block Party: 2025 Girls Volleyball Week 9 Report
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 22, 2025
A volleyball season full of weekend excitement will again enjoy one of its most attention-grabbing highlights Sunday.
More than two months of matches will boil down to the selection of first and second seeds for every District bracket, with MHSAA Tournament play set to begin a week later on Nov. 3.
Seeds are determined by Michigan Power Ratings (MPR), and as noted previously you can follow how teams stack up statewide, in their respective divisions and even in their respective Districts on the MPR page. The formula for determining the rest of the District is posted here.
Records, results and schedules below are those posted for teams on MHSAA.com, and rankings reflect polls posted by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Kingsley d. Traverse City St. Francis (25-22, 25-15) The Division 3 No. 3-ranked Stags (44-4-1) went 5-0 at the McBain Tournament, defeating honorable mentions McBain and Beal City as well but topping the day with this sweep of the No. 8 Gladiators (24-14-0).
2. Hudsonville d. Grand Haven (25-20, 27-29, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11) The Division 1 No. 9 Eagles (27-8-1) prevailed after falling behind 2-1, avenging a pair of previous losses to the No. 8 Buccaneers (33-9-0) from Sept. 25 and Oct. 4.
3. Crystal Falls Forest Park d. Kingsford (25-15, 25-14, 25-21) The Division 4 No. 5 Trojans (35-1-0) continued to justify their status among the Upper Peninsula’s best regardless of division, with this win over the Division 2 honorable mention Flivvers (19-2-0) – during a 3-0 day at the Clash of the Divisions – one of their most impressive this fall.
4. Grand Haven d. Grand Rapids Catholic Central (25-17, 25-19) Three days before the Hudsonville loss, Grand Haven went 4-0 at the Mattawan Invitational with this win over the Division 4 No. 5 Cougars (30-10-1) arguably the best although the Bucs also downed Division 1 honorable mention Byron Center.
5. Hancock d. Lake Linden-Hubbell (25-12, 22-25, 25-14, 27-25) The Division 4 No. 8 Bulldogs (23-3-2) followed up a big sweep of Ishpeming with this win over Lake Linden-Hubbell (22-5-0) to further firm up their place among the best in the Upper Peninsula and Division 4 as a whole as well.
Watch List
With an eye toward November, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Brighton (25-6-2) The Bulldogs are holding onto an honorable mention in the latest Division 1 rankings with a run of nine wins over their last 12 matches and their losses this season coming to an incredible group of No. 1 Rockford, No. 2 Farmington Hills Mercy, No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Marian, No. 7 Utica Eisenhower (twice) and honorable mention Jenison. Brighton clinched the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West title and will play Northville in the KLAA Gold Tournament championship match Saturday. The Bulldogs also are slated for a top seed in their District.
South Lyon East (30-7-1) The No. 10-ranked Cougars finished 4-0 at the final Motor City Power Series last weekend, highlighted by a 2-1 win over Division 2 No. 3 North Branch. All but one of their losses have come to a top-10 or honorable mention team in Division 1 as well, and they remain the only team to defeat top-ranked Rockford. East followed up that Sept. 20 win by defeating Division 2 No. 2 Detroit Country Day as well, and is tied for first in the Lakes Valley Conference with the league tournament coming up Saturday.
DIVISION 2
Flat Rock (22-6-0) A Sept. 22 win over Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central – the program’s first against the Huron League foe – put Flat Rock into the spotlight this fall, and it has received honorable mention again this week in the Division 2 poll. But the Rams have much more to boast, including a victory over Kingsley, and have also built up their experience in losses most recently to No. 6 Tecumseh and honorable mention Milan. Tune in for tonight’s for the rematch with the Kestrels.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central (30-10-1) After opening this season with three losses at the Traverse City West Invitational, the Cougars have strung together plenty of success including 13 victories over their last 15 matches. They did fall to Grand Haven over the weekend at Mattawan but defeated DeWitt, Portage Central and Division 3 No. 7 Kalamazoo Christian and moved up a spot to No. 4 in this week’s Division 2 rankings. They’ve already far surpassed last year’s 23-22-2 finish, with a likely top seed awaiting in their District as the only team in the bracket with a winning record.
DIVISION 3
Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep (17-3-2) The Fighting Irish are not ranked currently but may draw some notice with a 9-1-2 run that’s included a 25-23, 28-26, sweep of Division 4 No. 6 Battle Creek St. Philip and just a three-set loss to Division 2 Buchanan after Hackett won the first set. The Irish are lined up right now as the likely second seed in their District opposite No. 7 Kalamazoo Christian, which defeated Hackett in last year’s District Final and this season on Sept. 23. The only other loss this fall came to Delton Kellogg.
Pewamo-Westphalia (24-7-3) The 2022 Division 3 champion – and a quarterfinalist the last two seasons – No. 6 P-W is riding a seven-match winning streak as it gears up for another potential run. The best win over these last few weeks was a 2-1 comeback victory over No. 2 Plymouth Christian Academy at the Mt. Morris Tournament, and wins over No. 7 Kalamazoo Christian, No. 9 Saginaw Valley Lutheran and Division 2 No. 10 Battle Creek Harper Creek also stick out from this season’s overall work.
DIVISION 4
Midland Calvary Baptist (23-5-1) The Kings need two more wins to equal the total from last year’s Regional finalist team, and on Saturday went 4-1 at the Tawas Tournament with especially notable victories over Division 3 Johannesburg-Lewiston and Alcona and the loss to Division 2 Ogemaw Heights. All of Calvary Baptist’s defeats and the one tie came against Division 2 or 3 opponents, and as of today the Kings are slated to be the top seed in a District bracket that also includes No. 6 Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
Onekama (23-7-2) The Portagers are 9-2-2 over the last two-plus weeks and an honorable mention in this week’s rankings as the prepare to attempt next month to extend a five-year District title streak. They went 3-1-1 at the Farwell Paula Sullivan Tournament over the weekend, tying and then falling to Division 3 No. 10 Manton. But Onekama has solid wins over honorable mention Suttons Bay and Manton from earlier this season and plenty of other tough losses as well.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these matches and tournaments coming up:
Wednesday – Davison (24-4-0) at Mount Pleasant (25-6-1) – Both went undefeated in their divisions and earn their spots in this overall Saginaw Valley League championship match.
Wednesday – Carrollton (27-1-2) at Saginaw Valley Lutheran (35-8-3) – This is a winner-take-all matchup for the Tri-Valley Conference Blue regular-season championship.
Saturday – Lowell East vs. West Challenge – The 16-team field includes Division 1 top-ranked Rockford, No. 2 Farmington Hills Mercy, No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Marian, No. 4 Bloomfield Hills, No. 5 Lowell, No. 7 Utica Eisenhower and honorable mentions Jenison, Byron Center and Clarkston among several others.
Tuesday – Detroit Country Day quad – The Division 2 No. 2 Yellowjackets (13-7-0) will welcome Marian (34-4-0), Eisenhower (30-3-1) and Fenton (15-10-0).
Tuesday – Beal City (28-7-0) at Roscommon (42-2-0) – Division 3 top-ranked Roscommon can finish a perfect run through the Highland Conference, but honorable mention Beal City hopes to stand in the way.
PHOTOS (Top) Mount Pleasant's Tessa Ervin (2) digs the ball during a match against Saginaw Heritage. (Middle) East Grand Rapids' Heidi White (1) elevates to get to the ball against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. (Mount Pleasant/Heritage photo by High School Sports Scene. East Grand Rapids/Forest Hills Central photo by Michigan Sports Photo.)