Team of the Month: Gladwin Volleyball
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 15, 2022
Tony Wetmore hadn’t arrived yet the last time Gladwin’s varsity volleyball team won a Jack Pine Conference championship. But he had a trustworthy witness able to give a first-hand account of what his Flying G’s have been chasing over the last 40+ years.
Wetmore’s mother and junior varsity coach Jane Wetmore, then Jane Huber – played on that last league championship volleyball team. She also was the one who got her son into coaching; he started his Gladwin tenure as the freshman volleyball coach teaching a sport he admittedly didn’t know much about himself.
But Mom clearly was onto something.
Less than a decade later, Wetmore has just finished up his sixth season as Gladwin’s varsity coach – and his team has finished its first league championship season since 1978, earning the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” honor for October.
Gladwin has been hovering in contention much of the last decade, but this team had all the ingredients to end the drought. Start with senior outside hitter Erin Breault and senior setter Delaney Reynolds – Breault broke the school’s single-season and career kills records this season, and Reynolds broke the same records for assists. Additionally, Breault led the JPC in kills, and junior middle Lizzie Haines led the league in hitting percentage.
But that high-caliber talent also was surrounded by several contributors who helped Gladwin push past longtime nemesis Beaverton and into the top spot.
“I felt like the whole season I could split the team in half, and one team could take first in the conference and the other team could take like fourth. I just felt like we were that deep where we were good and we could practice at a pretty high level, which was really cool,” Wetmore said.
“It’s obviously linked together, the assist record breaker and the kill record breaker on the same team,” he added. “And I think the thing that really pushed us over the edge this year is we had so many different attackers that were really, really good. My outside hitter Erin broke the record, she led the league in kills. My middle hitter led the league in hitting percentage. Both of those are reflective of our ability to get the ball to our attackers, which is the setter’s main job – but our back row played really well also all season, so a super-big team effort for all of them.”
The Flying G’s were able to win the Jack Pine in large part because they became the first league opponent since 2018 to defeat annual power Beaverton – Gladwin swept the pair of matches against its rival, and those remain Beaverton’s only league defeats over the last five seasons.
The Flying G’s had been building toward this. They won their District in 2018, and then finished second in the JPC in 2019. The team was only .500 in 2020, but came back to finish 29-5 last season and 29-10 this fall.
Wetmore brought Breault, Reynolds and senior libero Delaney Conley up to varsity as sophomores that 2020 season. Breault, Reynolds and Haines earned all-region honors this season, and Wetmore was named his region’s Coach of the Year by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association. (Conley, a standout softball player, has signed to continue playing that sport at Saginaw Valley State.)
More quickly than hoped, of course, Gladwin made its season-ending exit in District play again. But the Flying G’s don’t plan on the prior good times coming to an end.
True, the seniors who will graduate are part of a class that’s been long-anticipated across all sports – another example this fall has been the football team, 12-0 and playing in a Division 5 Semifinal on Saturday.
Wetmore expects his volleyball seniors’ impact to last as younger players who watched them succeed this fall take their turns on the court with a larger idea of what’s possible.
“(It’s) just getting over the hump. Talk about our goals – every year trying to win the conference championship but we can’t get there. Every year since 2018, trying to beat Beaverton but we can’t do it. Districts, we’d won every once in a while … we won in 2011, so from 2011-15 we couldn’t get over it, but in (20)16 we got a District and then we got the next two,” Wetmore said. “When you break that barrier, it makes it easier to realize you can do things.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
September: Negaunee girls tennis - Report
Block Party: 2025 Girls Volleyball Week 6 Report
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 1, 2025
Just a few weeks ago, we got this inaugural "Block Party" started. And this week, we've already surpassed the midpoint of the 2025 girls volleyball regular season.
District tournament play begins is just a little more than four weeks, on Monday, Nov. 3. But even now, every match counts as we're in the second year of using Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) to determine seeding of the top two teams in every District. Click to link above to see how teams stack up not only in their entire Division but also in their District with pairings set to be assigned Oct. 26.
Records, results and schedules below are those posted for teams on MHSAA.com. Rankings reflect the latest polls posted by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association (MIVCA).
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Plymouth Christian Academy d. Mendon (25-12, 25-12) A 5-0 day for Division 3 No. 3 PCA (24-5-0) at the Division 3-4 Showdown included this most notable win over the Division 4 top-ranked Hornets (21-3-1).
2. Farmington Hills Mercy d. Utica Eisenhower (17-25, 25-13, 15-13) After losing the first set, Division 1 No. 3 Mercy (12-2-0) rebounded to even the score and then hold off No. 6 Eisenhower (19-2-1) in the match decider at the Motor City Power Series.
3. Mendon d. Battle Creek St. Philip (25-18, 16-25, 25-16, 25-21) Coming off a 3-2 run at the Division 3-4 Showdown, Mendon continued to justify its Division 4 No. 1 status with this win over the No. 3 Tigers (16-9-4).
4. Battle Creek Lakeview d. Grand Rapids Catholic Central (19-25, 25-18, 15-10) Lakeview (25-5-5) finished 4-0-1 at its invitational, with the tie also against the Division 2 No. 6 Cougars (19-8-1) before winning the rematch in three sets.
5. Grand Rapids South Christian d. Frankenmuth (25-16, 28-26) This Motor City Power Series matchup pitted the Division 2 No. 8 Sailors (14-7-0) and now-No. 10 Eagles (9-6-4), who entered the weekend ranked Nos. 8 and 7, respectively.
Watch List
With an eye toward November, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Byron Center (19-4-0) The Bulldogs went 13-2 in September and remain an honorable mention in the latest poll after an open weekend. They most recently went 4-0 at their Cristi Curtis Memorial Invitational, and their losses this fall have come against No. 1 Rockford, No. 5 Jenison, No. 8 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern and honorable mention Lowell. Byron Center will get a second chance against Jenison on Oct. 16.
Cadillac (18-3-0) The Vikings have begun another march through the Big North Conference – most notably with a five-set win over Traverse City Central on Monday – and they own solid early wins over Division 3 No. 8 Traverse City St. Francis, honorable mention McBain and Division 4 Ubly. The losses came to Division 3 No. 2 Roscommon, No. 4 Kingsley, and Mount Pleasant, all in weekend tournament play.
DIVISION 2
Kingsford (12-0-0) Despite graduating all-stater Madelynn Kreider in the spring, the honorable mention Flivvers are continuing a pace that took them to a 31-5 finish and District title a year ago. The most notable wins so far have come over Division 4 No. 10 Hancock during a 6-0 day at Kingsford’s season-opening invitational and then Calumet on Sept. 11, and they’ll see Negaunee for a second time Thursday after sweeping the Miners during opening weekend.
Milan (10-4-0) The Huron League is loaded this season with Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central again ranked No. 1 in Division 3 and Flat Rock coming off a win over the Kestrels last week. Add Milan to the mix, with losses only to another league foe New Boston Huron, plus SMCC, Division 2 No. 7 Tecumseh and honorable mention Parma Western. The Big Reds won their first meeting with Flat Rock and have a nice victory over Division 3 honorable mention Bronson as well.
DIVISION 3
Kalamazoo Christian (17-6-3) Coming off last year’s run to the Division 3 Semifinals, the No. 6-ranked Comets are facing a schedule filled with Division 1 and 2 teams. They’ve won 10 of their last 12 matches, the defeats coming two weeks ago at the Battle Creek Lakeview Invitational to Division 1 Portage Northern and Division 2 Chelsea. The only loss to a non-D1/D2 opponent came during a season-opening invitational to No. 5 Pewamo-Westphalia, which K-Christian also defeated that day.
McBain (11-7-0) The honorable mention Ramblers have won nine of their last 10 matches as they settle into Highland Conference play with the biggest coming up Thursday against No. 2 Roscommon – which defeated McBain in tournament play Aug. 29 and also ended the Ramblers’ 2024 run in the Regional Finals. McBain already has avenged an early loss this fall to honorable mention Manton and will see the Rangers again Oct. 28. The other defeats came three times to No. 4 Kingsley and once to Calumet and Cadillac.
DIVISION 4
Fowler (13-5-1) A Regional finalist last season, Fowler will definitely be prepared for top competition during tournament time. The Eagles started this season defeating current honorable mention Onekama and have taken losses to Division 1 Portage Northern, Division 3 No. 3 Plymouth Christian Academy, Division 4 No. 2 Ubly (twice) and No. 5 Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart. Fowler also tied and then defeated Division 1 Midland Dow at the start of September. The Eagles will get their next major challenge Thursday at Pewamo-Westphalia.
Ishpeming (12-2-1) An opening draw with Newberry and losses to Negaunee and Calumet are the only flaws during an otherwise excellent start. Ishpeming then defeated Newberry at the Rudyard Invitational and will have a chance to see Negaunee again as well. Unranked at this time, the Hematites could equal last season’s 16 wins by the end of this weekend at the Escanaba Elks Invitational, where most notably they’ll see No. 8 Crystal Falls Forest Park.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these matches and tournaments coming up:
Thursday – Fowler at Pewamo-Westphalia – A pair of top 10 teams top the Central Michigan Athletic Conference standings as P-W (16-5-3) is No. 5 in Division 3 and Fowler (13-5-1) is No. 6 in Division 4.
Saturday – Motor City Power Series at UWM Sports Complex in Pontiac – The most intriguing pool this weekend includes Division 1 No. 2 Bloomfield Hills (23-2-1), honorable mention Dexter (10-1-0), Novi (13-7-0), Saline (13-5-0) and Lake Orion (12-12-1).
Saturday – Pontiac Notre Dame Prep quad – The Fighting Irish (17-10-1) welcome Division 2 honorable mention Edwardsburg (19-7-0), Birch Run (18-6-2) and West Bloomfield (7-4)
Tuesday – Lansing Catholic at Ionia – Lansing Catholic (14-3-1) fell out of the Division 2 honorable mentions this week, but Ionia (19-3-0) moved up to No. 9.
Tuesday – South Lyon at South Lyon East – These neighbors and Milford head into the final week of the Lakes Valley Conference schedule vying for the top spot, with Division 1 honorable mention South Lyon (21-5-0) undefeated in league play and East (23-5-1) with just a loss to Milford.
PHOTOS (Top) Okemos blockers attempt to deflect the ball during a sweep last week of Lansing Waverly. (Middle) Warren Regina sets for a kill attempt against Notre Dame Prep during a Fighting Irish sweep. (Okemos/Waverly photo by Larry Arreguin/Team Arreguin Photos. Regina/Notre Dame Prep photo by Adam Sheehan.