#TBT: MHSAA Hosts 1st Volleyball Finals
September 7, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Girls volleyball has seen its share of changes over more than four decades as an MHSAA sport – its season moving from winter to fall and the addition to rally scoring in 2005-06 surely would be counted as the most significant.
Along the way, it has become the most popular high school girls sport in the state in terms of participation, with more than 19,000 athletes taking part last season.
The legacy will continue later this season when the MHSAA crowns its 42nd class of champions in the sport. Here’s a look back at the first championship day in 1976, written by MHSAA historian Ron Pesch for a “Finals Flashbacks” published in the 2006 MHSAA Finals program:
The sport of volleyball was invented in 1895 at Springfield College in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Added to the Olympics in 1964, the international amateur athletic event exposed the power game to a broad audience.
In the winter of 1976, the MHSAA added volleyball to the array of championships sponsored by the organization. A total of 458 teams participated in the first volleyball tournament. Broken into three classifications, Class A contests were played on the campus of Schoolcraft College in Livonia, while Class B games were held at Read Field House at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Bay City’s Delta College played host to the Class C-D tournament.
Eight teams qualified for the finals in each classification. Quarterfinal, Semifinal and Final matches were played on the same day, made possible because games were timed during that first year.
Dearborn Fordson had won a non-MHSAA tournament in 1975, and led by tri-captains Lynn March, June Scott and Joan Ferguson, the Tractors earned the MHSAA’s first Class A title by disposing of Grosse Pointe North in the Semifinals, 15-6, 15-4. Fordson then knocked off previously unbeaten Ferndale in the Final, 15-13, 15-5 for the crown.
Parchment carried a nine-player roster, including five seniors, into the first Class B tournament. The Panthers thumped Sturgis, 15-0, 15-8 in the Semifinals, then downed Tecumseh, 15-8, 15-11, to finish the year with a 30-3 record.
Undefeated Flint Holy Rosary, led by coach Jo Lake, rolled to the 1976 Class C-D crown with a 14-5, 13-8 win over Kalamazoo Christian in the Final. The team snagged the Class D title the following year as well, establishing a winning streak of 92 straight matches.
PHOTO: Michigan high school volleyball teams compete during the early days of the sport in this state. (MHSAA file photo.)
Country Day Adds 1st Volleyball Title to All-Time Championship Collection
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 23, 2024
BATTLE CREEK – There are so few chances anymore to become the first athletic program at Detroit Country Day to accomplish something.
But Saturday, Olivia Grenadier and her teammates finished off a career of firsts with the big one, sweeping Tecumseh at Kellogg Arena to claim the school’s first Volleyball Finals title.
“My freshman year it was the first Regional championship, so that was really fun,” Grenadier said. “This year it was the first time we beat (Pontiac Notre Dame Prep), first time state championship, so it was just amazing going out like that. Very cool.”
This weekend was the first ever trip to the Semifinals for Country Day, which finished the season 36-1. It won 25-18, 25-21, 25-17 in the Division 2 Final and dropped just three sets during its postseason run, needing a fourth to get by rival Notre Dame Prep in the District final and five to get by two-time reigning champ North Branch in the Quarterfinal.
“I think we were prepared – they were ready,” Country Day coach Kim Lockhart said. “Both of our games this weekend were the last games (of the night), so we kind of were watching other teams play, keeping our minds in the right place. We knew we had to just come out tonight and do what we’ve been doing all season and just take care of the ball.”
The Yellowjackets attack, led by Grenadier and junior Elise Heimstra, and orchestrated by freshman setter Payton Woodruff, proved too much for Tecumseh on Saturday.
Woodruff finished with 47 assists on the night, with Grenadier and Heimstra each getting 21 kills.
“Offensively, we watched a little bit of film on them earlier, and as the game went on, we knew Elise, she had middle back,” Grenadier said. “Payton puts us in such good spots to where we can honestly hit anywhere. She’s a great setter who puts us in great spots.”
It wasn’t just the volume of kills from Country Day hitters that gave Tecumseh trouble, it was also the efficiency. Both Grenadier and Heimstra finished with a .486 attack percentage.
“The girls, they came to play, and for Olivia being the last match of her career here in high school, I feel like she made a statement,” Lockhart said. “This was her comeback season, especially coming from that injury (which ended her junior season early), and what a comeback it was. I’m so proud of her. And Elise, just fearless, and confident and consistent with our setter Payton just running the show like usual. She was just locked in, and I couldn’t be more proud.”
Morgan Anderson led the Country Day back line with 12 digs, while Grenadier had 11.
Tecumseh coach Morgan Skelton couldn’t help but be impressed with what she saw from her team’s opponent.
“I think if we play them 10 times, we’d be lucky to pull out a win,” Skelton said. “They’re very, very tough. It’s not anything against my girls at all, but (the Yellowjackets) have way more experience, and it shows. I think today, for the girls, there were nerves earlier, but today the moment was just because of the finality of it all. It’s ending, we made it to the end, so I think that’s where the emotion came from. That team was great, and I’m not disappointed by how we played at all.”
Junior Emma Eldred led Tecumseh with 12 kills, while junior Maddy Vanblack had seven kills and nine digs. Junior setter Lily Gnodtke finished with 21 assists.
For Tecumseh, this Finals appearance was the first since a 2011 runner-up finish, as it, too, was looking for its first championship. Tecumseh finished the season 48-2-1.
“I don’t know if I could have dreamt this at the beginning of the season,” Skelton said. “I knew we were going to be good, but to me, all season long I was like, ‘OK, now we’re 20-1’ or this and that, so I knew we were going to be good, but I didn’t know how good we were going to be. So, as the numbers start going down, teams start dropping like flies and we’re still in it – we had so much fun this season.”
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Country Day players raise their championship trophy Saturday night at Kellogg Arena. (Middle) The Yellowjackets’ Payton Woodruff (15) and a pair of Tecumseh blockers contend for the ball. (Below) Country Day’s Grace Lu launches a serve. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)