Performance: Southfield Christian's Emily Van Dyke
November 22, 2019
Emily Van Dyke
Southfield Christian senior – Volleyball
The 5-foot-11 outside hitter helped Southfield Christian to its third straight Division 4 Regional title with 15 kills and 10 digs against Allen Park Inter-City Baptist in the Semifinal and 20 kills in the championship match against Marine City Cardinal Mooney to earn the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.” The Eagles’ tournament run came to an end in a Thursday Semifinal loss to Mendon, and Van Dyke will graduate as her school’s record holder in a variety of categories including career kills, digs and aces.
Van Dyke joined the varsity as a freshman, and the team’s Regional title in 2017 and Semifinal trip in 2018 both were program firsts. She finished this season with 556 kills, 349 digs and 46 aces, and finished her career with 1,641 kills, 1,357 digs and 282 aces – the career kills and aces qualifying for the MHSAA record book. She nearly reached her school single-match record of 32 kills in the Semifinal, tallying 31 along with 16 digs as the Eagles lost a five-set heart-breaker to the reigning Division 4 champion Hornets. Southfield Christian finished the season 29-8-4 and went 111-34-12 over her four seasons with one league (this season) and four District titles to go with the three Regional championships.
The Eagles enjoyed a rare but beneficial setup this fall as Van Dyke was joined by five more seniors in the starting lineup, with the team’s other four players all sophomores. She’s grown up with volleyball – her parents both played at the college level, and her father Mike Van Dyke is Southfield Christian’s coach. After making the Division 4 all-state second team as a sophomore and first team as a junior, Emily likely is in line for another high honor this fall – and she also signed last week with Division I Abilene Christian University in Texas. She carries a 4.0 grade-point average and plans to study one of the sciences.
Coach (and dad) Mike Van Dyke said: “It’s good and bad (to be coach and Dad), because she ends up getting coached at practice and coached at home. Her mom and I both played volleyball in college, so she got a lot of feedback early and throughout her volleyball (development). … (But I’m most impressed by) just her willingness to be coached and to learn – she keeps working to improve her game. She still hasn’t plateaued. She gets better and better. We’re excited to see her playing in college.”
Performance Point: “It was a lot of pressure on the team, being six seniors. But we prepared and we did our absolute best coming up to today,” Emily Van Dyke said after Thursday’s Semifinal. “This year, I’ve been focusing on how to be a better leader. It’s not about your words; it’s about your actions. So whether I’m doing my best to get a kill or going up every time to get a block, (it’s) just anything I can do to contribute to them and bring everybody up.”
They bring me up too: “(I’ll remember) all the crazy things our team has done or gotten into. I love each of them individually. And I would never be here playing volleyball at this level if it wasn’t for them.”
Dad’s known best: “Sometimes it’s been a little rough (with him as coach too), but I wouldn’t pick a different coach in the world. I loved playing for him, and it’s really been a blast. I’ve loved all four years of high school volleyball.”
Texas, here I come: “It’s a long story, but our JV coach is from Texas, and she said, ‘You would love Texas; just look.’ So I started looking at schools everywhere, and then I found a couple in Texas I was interested in. So that’s how I ended up getting there – (and) Abilene just connected with me. I’m so excited to go down and keep playing volleyball.”
Thank you Eagles: “I think I’m going to miss the connection I have with all the players. Most of them I have in lots of my classes, so we’re friends outside of just the sport. … I wouldn’t trade this moment for the world. I’m so proud of my team.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Nov. 14: Taylor Wegener, Ida volleyball - Report
Nov. 7: Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Southfield Christian’s Emily Van Dyke winds up for a kill attempt during last week’s Division 4 Regional Final win over Marine City Cardinal Mooney. (Middle) Van Dyke works for a point during the Regional Semifinal against Allen Park Inter-City Baptist. (Photos by Dave Veldman/Southfield Christian.)
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.)