Battle Creek — Grand Haven accomplished its mission.
With a 3-1 (25-19, 25-11, 29-31, 25-18) win over Lake Orion on Saturday at Kellogg Arena, Grand Haven won the inaugural MHSAA Division 1 boys volleyball title to cap the state tournament. And it comes a year after Grand Haven finished as runner up in the club-level state tournament a year ago. Grand Haven felt that was an opportunity squandered and made it a point to prove that it was the best team in the state this year.
“They just know we were really good,” head coach Jim VanTol said. “I mean, we had — we were loaded with talent. We knew we were the best team in the state going into the season.”
After Saturday, which capped a 41-1 season, it’s hard to argue otherwise.
“Every time we played Hudsonville, especially because they’re the ones that beat us in the state championship last year, we wanted to take it to them the hardest because we did not like losing last year,” junior hitter Maddox Krugler said. “And good thing we didn’t lose this year because then we would have done the same thing, probably, to Lake Orion. But yeah, just taking it to ‘em every game. We wanted to win every single game. Got really close.”
Saturday’s championships, starting with Division 2 and followed by Division 1, are the first-ever MHSAA-awarded boys volleyball titles in Michigan. Following a pair of semifinals in each division on Friday, the state finals conclude the first season boys volleyball competed as an MHSAA-sanctioned varsity sport.
Which meant that Grand Haven’s title of champion carries some extra weight.
“It’s way more important this year,” VanTol said. “Yeah, it’s the first year. We’ve had good clubs, acted as a state for years, and this is the first year that it was like, ‘This is the real deal.’”
Lake Orion played the part of the aggressor in the first set to start, rolling out to a 15-11 lead behind some strong serving and above the net play from the likes of Kuba Wolski and Jan Ludvik to hang with the high-flying Grand Haven squad. It spurred Grand Haven head coach Jim VanTol to call for a timeout.
On the first point out of that timeout, Lake Orion served and Grand Haven immediately set up powerful outside hitter Maddox Krugler, who hammered home a kill as he leapt above the rest of the players on the court.
That set the tone as Grand Haven charged back to tie the match, 18-18. Then the strong play at the net came up again, as Grand Haven won a point at the net with its block, then set up Krugler a few points later for another thunderous kill.
Mr. Volleyball, Caleb Cryst, finished off the set win for Grand Haven, opting to send over a kill attempt instead of setting up a fellow attacker.
His move evidently caught the Lake Orion defense off guard, and his spot-perfect kill landed cleanly in the back corner as he turned to his bench and the cheering fans behind them, cajoling them to celebrate more.
“I think it’s going to set it on the car ride home,” Cryst said after the match, still riding an emotional high. “A little high on adrenaline right now. It doesn’t feel real coming here in this nice big arena with the trophy and the medal around my neck. It’s kind of surreal.”
The second set ended up lopsided in Grand Haven’s favor as the top seed began to roll.
Lake Orion struggled to piece together dangerous kill attempts, which made it that much easier for Grand Haven’s defense to dig the ball out, get it to setters, and let Krugler or the other high-flying players like Alfredo Ellis and John Cryst, Caleb Cryst’s younger brother.
And even when Grand Haven got on the serve and Lake Orion did have some more chances to control the ball for clear looks for its hitters, the Grand Haven front line did an admirable job blocking and snagging points at the net that way.
As Krugler, Cryst, Ellis and Co. got into a rhythm and started to hammer kills, rolling to a 25-11 win in the second set, Lake Orion could’ve been overwhelmed.
But rather than wilt in the third set, Lake Orion pulled out to a 20-14 lead, on course to take the third and keep the match going.
Grand Haven didn’t back down, despite the lead, though, winning seven-straight points and coming back from down 23-17 to get match point, 24-23.
Lake Orion held, then faced match point again, 25-24. It held up again. Then another match point. In total, Lake Orion survived match point for Grand Haven four times in the third set, eventually flipping the paradigm by winning back-to-back points and, finally, winning set point to take the third set, 31-29.
“It says a lot,” Lake Orion head coach Tony Scavarda said of how his team responded. “Because that second set was pretty ugly. And they got on a huge run on us on the second set. A lot of teams would have packed up shop and said, ‘Hey, they’re just better.’ But they didn’t. We’re not going home yet. And I really appreciate that, and it was a good moment for them.”
In the fourth set, the mission was simple for Grand Haven: Be the better team.
“We’re still up 2-1, still a better team,” VanTol said of the mindset at that moment. “We’ve got to just play a decent brand of volleyball, and this will take care of itself.”
And things did.
While Lake Orion rode off some of its momentum from taking the third set, Grand Haven eventually pulled out to a 24-17 lead in the fourth, dropping a point before a Lake Orion serve coasted into the net, and secured a Division 1 title that the Grand Haven squad has spent the last year thinking about.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Grand Haven caps dominant season with first state D1 volleyball title
Reporting by Andrew Graham, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrew Graham, Special to The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
