St. Francis, Kalamazoo Christian To Play For First D3 Title
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A first-time state champion will be crowned in Division 3 this season. The 2023 state finals will close out on Saturday at 4:30 with Kalamazoo Christian battling Traverse City St. Francis, as the two earned wins in their respective semifinal…
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Continue ReadingA first-time state champion will be crowned in Division 3 this season.
The 2023 state finals will close out on Saturday at 4:30 with Kalamazoo Christian battling Traverse City St. Francis, as the two earned wins in their respective semifinal matches on Thursday.
You can see a photo gallery from Kalamazoo Christian vs. SMCC and from St. Francis vs. Cass City.
Kalamazoo Christian def. SMCC 25-15, 25-10, 25-17
Kalamazoo Christian was a D3 finalist in 2022, but the Comets weren’t necessarily being taken seriously as a title contender in 2023.
The Comets may have taken that personally. Just two days after sweeping the defending champs, Pewamo-Westphalia, in a quarterfinal, Kalamazoo Christian dominated top-ranked SMCC to open the weekend at Kellogg Arena.
“We just have such a motivated group of girls. We have six seniors on our team this year, but I think the biggest factor is last year we lost in the state finals and they are just extra-motivated to get back to that final and win that title this year. They have been really, really determined,” Comets coach Carlie Southland said.
The Comets never let the Kestrels get started, as they established a sizable lead in the first set and never looked back.
It was the serving of Kalamazoo Christian that was the big story. The Comets tallied 12 aces as a team and didn’t allow SMCC to get in-system offensively, which kept the Kestrels on their heels. SMCC hit just .046 for the match while the Comets hit .282.
Senior Holland DeVries Holland DeVries 5'10" | OH Kalamazoo Christian | 2024 State MI led the way in the win with 12 kills and 20 digs. Annelise deJong and Makenna Ekkens each added nine kills while Lola Stecker had 28 assists. Jovie Cochran added 15 digs while Ekkens had 12. The service effort was led by deJong with five aces.
SMCC was led by Jessica Costlow Jessica Costlow 5'11" | OH SMCC | 2025 State #142 Nation MI , who had nine kills with 19 digs. McKenna Payne McKenna Payne 5'7" | DS/L SMCC | 2025 State #105 Nation MI added 22 assists and 11 digs while Madeline Dettling Madeline Dettling 6'0" | OH SMCC | 2026 State MI had six kills.
Kalamazoo Christian now is in its second consecutive state final on Saturday, as it looks to earn its first volleyball state title.
“It feels like we deserve it,” DeVries said of playing for the title. “Last year, we came into it surprised and in awe, but now we know we deserve to be here.”
TC St. Francis def. Cass City 22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-22
The second semifinal couldn’t have been much closer, as the two teams were about as even as it gets.
After Cass City found a way to finish out the first set, it would be the Gladiators that found the way to grind out the final points in sets 2-4 to pick advance to its first state final since 2012.
St. Francis was the only one of the programs in the Division 3 semifinals to have not appeared in Battle Creek over the last two seasons, but they didn’t show any nerves and played a poised game throughout.
“I think our mindset was that we belong here too,” St. Francis coach Kathleen Nance said. “It doesn’t matter if we haven’t been here in a while, we earned our spot here. We belong in this Final Four and we are good enough to be here. We can win.”
Like Kalamazoo Christian, St. Francis was solid from the service line with 12 aces in the match. That was key during the final stretch of each set, as it kept Cass City from being able to give standout middle Shelby Ignash Shelby Ignash 6'1" | MB Cass City | 2025 State #124 Nation MI good looks.
The Gladiators had a balanced offensive attack between sophomore Quinn Yenshaw Quinn Yenshaw 6'0" | OH Traverse City St. Francis | 2026 State MI and senior Garnet Mullet Garnet Mullet 5'9" | OH Traverse City Saint Francis | 2024 State MI , as each had 16 kills. Mullet hit .308 in the win and added 19 digs while Yenshaw had 12 digs.
Setters Reese Jones Reese Jones 5'4" | S Traverse City St. Francis | 2026 MI and Tessah Konas Tessah Konas 5'8" | S Traverse City St. Francis | 2025 State MI each had 22 assists, while libero Avery Nance Avery Nance 5'4" | DS/L Traverse City St. Francis | 2025 State MI had 19 digs.
Cass City was led by Ignash, who finished with 17 kills, 16 digs, two solo blocks and six assisted blocks. Josie Spencer, the lone Cass City senior, added 10 kills and 11 digs while Kacee Gray Kacee Gray 5'7" | OH Cass City | 2025 State MI had eight kills and 19 digs. Isabelle Phillips Isabelle Phillips 5'9" | DS/L Cass City | 2025 State MI finished with 33 assists.