Kubiak Comes Back, Twice, to Lead Mustangs

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

September 20, 2016

PORTAGE — Mikaela Kubiak is a fierce competitor on the volleyball court. But the Portage Central senior setter had an even harder fight off the court her first two seasons.

Kubiak, who has been instrumental in the Mustangs’ run to a 23-3 start and No. 5 ranking in Class A, spent her first two seasons rehabbing from injury.

A starter on varsity as a freshman and sophomore, Kubiak tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, not once but twice, and endured two separate stints of grueling physical therapy.

Looking back, the personable Kubiak remembers every detail.

“It was our first home match against Kalamazoo Central and all my family and friends were here watching,” said Kubiak, who came to Portage from Central as a freshman and whose father Bob Kubiak had coached Kalamazoo Central football from 1993-2003.

But her first home volleyball match wasn’t even close to what she envisioned. 

“It was in warm-ups and the second ball I hit, I came down and I blew my knee,” she said. 

“Not a very good start. It was our first home varsity match, and I think it was the first or second week of school.”

Her first thoughts were that she could walk it off and continue to warm up.

“Then I was like, whoa, this is way more serious than I thought,” she said. “I couldn’t get up. I kept walking, then I just sat down on the ground. It was throbbing and I was in pain.

“I was just super mad, super mad at myself that it happened. Of course, that game it would have to happen to me.”

She had knee surgery and spent nine months in recovery, including physical therapy at least three times per week.

“I wasn’t surprised she came back (after the first injury). I was surprised she got hurt again,” said Dawn Jaqua, who has coached the Mustangs for the last 18 years. “I was actually surprised she got hurt the first time because she’s such a strong kid, physically, so that was a shock.

“She is hugely determined and loves the sport. You can’t help but beat yourself up when you’re a coach and any kid gets hurt on your watch.”

After missing her first season, Kubiak was raring to go as a sophomore.

The team’s setter was Madison Jaqua, who earned all-state first-team honors that year, so Kubiak was once again a hitter.

“Mattawan was like our big rival,” Kubiak said. “We were in the middle of our third set. It was a nitty-gritty, tight match. It was point after point after point, back and forth.

“Madison set me a ball and I came down and just overran it too much and I blew it out again. I knew right away because my knee moved on me.

“I was like, ‘Oh great.’ I think I was even more mad at that. It was like a pin dropped in the room and I was so frustrated. I technically tore it twice in the same year. I actually tore it on 9-11 my freshman year and 9-9 my sophomore year.”

Once again, Kubiak missed the rest of the season. But this time she knew what to expect from the physical therapy and did a lot of work on her own to supplement the workouts.

Giving up volleyball was not an option.

“I was more comfortable going back my junior season because I was back in my original position (as a setter with Madison Jaqua graduating) and I had a huge brace on. I didn’t have a brace my sophomore year.”

Dawn Jaqua said Kubiak’s role changed as a junior.

“She was setting for us,” she said. “The biomechanics are way different. We didn’t have her play front row last year. She set from the back row. We ran a kind of modified system for that.

“Then she started playing front row a little bit for us at the end of the season. We let her block in controlled situations, and by the end of the season last year, we were running a 5-1 with her.”

The coach’s daughter, senior Devin Jaqua, who has been playing volleyball with Kubiak since seventh grade, was not surprised she returned stronger than ever.

“She’s always been a strong leader, and she’s always worked really hard,” the senior said. “She has a really big passion for the game, so I knew she’d always come back.

“She leads almost like the team mom. You can always depend on her, and she always plays her best. She always knows what to do and when to do it.”

In spite of losing two seasons of both high school and club volleyball, Kubiak earned Class A all-state honorable mention last season.

In November, she will sign to play collegiately with Division II Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Dawn Jaqua said Kubiak is the complete package.

“It’s all the components: her athleticism, her consistency, her decision making,” she said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about her will to want to win. She’s a great leader.

“She is a great problem solver. She’s demanding, but she does it in a very calming way. She’s very controlled. When things aren’t going well, she does a great job figuring out a different way to win. That’s her job.”

Devin Jaqua said this is a special year for the seniors.

“There’s five seniors, and it’s our last year,” she said. “Mikaela and Janell (Williams) are the only two so far going to play in college, so the rest of us really want to make it a memorable last year.”

Williams will sign with Western Michigan University. Jaqua will play soccer collegiately at Michigan State.

Talking from experience, Kubiak offers some advice: “For any other volleyball players out there, work hard all the time because you never know when it can be taken from you.

“Cherish every moment you have on the court with your teammates because it really does fly by.”

Other seniors on the team are Rebecca Barnes and Maddie Goodman. Juniors are Maddie Wojcik, Sara Denison, Olivia Harning, MacKenzie Zook and Jessie Zesiger. The sophomore is Ryann Jaqua and the freshman is Maizie Brown.

Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Mikaela Kubiak tips the ball over the net during a recent match against Richland Gull Lake. (Middle) Kubiak and Portage Central coach Dawn Jaqua. (Below) Kubiak sets for teammate Janell Williams. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)

SMCC's Windhams Agree to Coach Together - 'Us or Nothing' - Then Win It All

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

November 26, 2024

When Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central was down to needing just one point to clinch the Division 3 volleyball championship Saturday, assistant coach Randy Windham was fighting back tears.

Southeast & Border“Just because I’m crying doesn’t mean this match is over,” Randy said in the huddle.

A few seconds later, it was over. SMCC had clinched the championship, and Randy had a front row seat to watch his wife, head coach Kim Windham, accept the  trophy.

“I always call her the best coach in the family,” Randy said.

The Windhams are a coaching couple. They have been married since 1992, operate a business in Monroe together and this fall, for the first time, coached together.

It clearly was a winning combination.

When Kim was approached about coaching SMCC prior to the season, she said Randy – who has been the head boys basketball coach at SMCC since 2009 – talked her into taking the job.

“I said, ‘I’ll take it if you’ll coach,’” she said. “’If you want me to coach, then obviously you are going to coach along with me. It’s us or nothing.’ He was all in from the get-go.’”

Randy, she thought, would bring an extra element to the bench that the Kestrels needed.

“He’s so good with the mental side of things with kids,” Kim said. “I knew how much he could contribute with that. All I wanted to do was coach. I wanted to do the Xs and Os, the practice plans and teaching and let him do the rest. He’s been absolutely fabulous.”

She said having Randy near helped her, too.

“Before every match, he’s my calming force. I lean on him a lot.”

During matches, Kim said Randy was often the person talking during the huddles.

“With volleyball you only have only three minutes between sets,” she said. “You have to figure out the rotations, who is going to start, what we are going to do … so as I’m at the table figuring that out, he’s talking to the group about what just happened or what we are going to do next.

The Windhams exchange a fun glance during Saturday’s Final. “It’s good to know he’s there taking care of things, saying the things the way I know I would want them to be said.”

While SMCC has had several deep MHSAA Tournament runs in recent years and an outstanding volleyball tradition, this year’s team did lack experience coming into the season. Windham was named head coach in May.

“We only really had three returning starters coming back,” she said. “When we started the season, the question was how we were going to get everyone else up to speed. We knew we had our work cut out for us. We had to figure out how we were going to make the puzzle pieces fit.”

Randy said he was confident Kim could get the job done.

“She’s been known to build programs,” Randy said. “It really isn’t about how good the players are, but what they will buy into. She’ll get them there. We had some good players, but she took them to the next level with her coaching.”

Kim set out to change the culture around an ultra-successful volleyball program. Early in the season, for example, the team focused on the fundamentals.

“We went back to basic fundamentals,” Kim said. “We knew if we wanted to be good, we had to be fundamentally sound first.”

Kim graduated from SMCC in 1990 after an outstanding volleyball career and went on to play two years at the college level. She launched her coaching career in 1996, only a few months after their son Bryce was born.

“I would take him with me to practice in his car seat, set him on the mat and coach,” she said.

Sports have been a common denominator for the Windham family for years.

Randy opened Monroe Sports Varsity Athletic, a screen printing and embroidery business, in 1991, a year before he and Kim were married. An assistant coach at SMCC since the 1990s, he also played professional slow-pitch softball for years. Bailey, a college volleyball player herself after playing at SMCC, lives in Indiana where she is a nurse. Bryce, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and played several seasons of Minor League Baseball, is working at the family business and is an assistant basketball coach at SMCC for his dad.

Kim started working full-time at the business in 2003. The day after winning the Kestrels’ most recent championship, the Windhams were back at the shop, working on filling orders.

The family bond is special.

“Randy and I just love spending time together,” Kim said. “Sometimes during basketball season Randy will be gone late or watching film. We almost get more upset when we are not together.”

Doug DonnellyDoug 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) Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central head volleyball coach Kim Windham, right, and assistant coach/husband Randy hold the program’s latest championship trophy. (Middle) The Windhams exchange a glance on the court at Kellogg Arena. (Top photo courtesy of the Windham family. Middle photo by Stephanie Hawkins.)