Elite Eight: Clarkston making back-to-back trips to quarters for first time

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

CLARKSTON — It was a year ago when Clarkston ended a 34-year drought and won a regional title in girls volleyball. The Wolves gained the right to play in the state quarterfinals for the first time since 1976.

Now, Clarkston is making such long postseason trips a habit rather than an anomaly.

Clarkston, despite just three seniors on its roster, will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Fenton against fifth-ranked Plymouth Canton (43-9-1) with the right of advancing to the Class A Final Four this Thursday at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena on the line.

Although always a competitive volleyball program, Clarkston, Oakland County’s largest high school with some 2,700 students, has won districts in 11 of the past 17 seasons but is only in the quarterfinals for the third time in school history.

In 1976, Clarkston lost to Flint Northern 15-12, 15-11 — this was long before the 2005 switch from side-out scoring to rally-scoring — while last season the Wolves were upended by eventual state runner-up Farmington Hills Mercy (26-24, 18-25, 25-17, 25-17) in the quarterfinals round.

This marks the first time Clarkston, ranked third in the state, has reached the state quarterfinals on consecutive years. In fact, this is the first time a current member of the Oakland Activities Association has ever reached the Elite Eight in back-to-back years.

“It’s never easy,” admitted Clarkston coach Kelly Avenall about making a long postseason run. Clarkston knocked out Midland in this year’s regional finals and Flushing in last year’s regional finals game.

“There were a few years there where we were really good but couldn’t get past (Birmingham) Marian in the regional,” added Avenall.

Dating back to the MHSAA’s first postseason volleyball tournament in the 1975-76 school year, there have only been 15 times an OAA school has reached the Elite Eight, including Clarkston and Lake Orion this season.

Clarkston now leads the way with three quarterfinal appearances, while Lake Orion Birmingham Seaholm and Ferndale have been there twice while West Bloomfield, Rochester Adams, Birmingham Groves, Royal Oak Kimball, Oxford, Southfield and Troy have all been to this stage one time apiece.

Ferndale’s 1976 team is the only time an OAA school reached the state title game, as the Eagles, who were members of the Southeastern Michigan Association back then, lost in the finals to Dearborn Fordson. Ferndale (1976), Troy (1980), Lake Orion (1988) and Rochester Adams (1989) all lost in the state semifinals.

ON THE PROWL: Clarkston's Rachel Dickerson and the Wolves are playing in Tuesday's state quarterfinals. Clarkston is making its third apperance in the quarterfinals, more than other member of the Oakland Activities Association. File Photo | Dan Stickradt

Clarkston reached Elite Eight this season after graduating seven of 12 players, including six that are currently on college rosters.

“I think that this shows that our program is getting stronger and even when we lose key players like that, we are able to rally (this season),” said Clarkston senior libero Maddie Lightfoot following the Wolves’ three-game sweep of Midland in Thursday’s regional finals, a match that lasted only 55 minutes. “We have really come together as a team and everybody has really stepped up.”

Clarkston has already eclipsed last season’s win total by going 54-5-0 this season, a record for wins and win percentage (.915). Last season the Wolves were 48-4-1 overall with a .906 winning percentage.

Canton is in its first-ever state quarterfinals game. The Chiefs do have a fine track record this season with multiple wins over state-ranked opponents, including Novi and Mercy. The latter game against Mercy came last Thursday at Brighton, where the Chiefs upset top-ranked Mercy in four sets.

“I have been saying all year that (this team) has exceeded almost every one of my expectations,” said Avenall, whose team played in the regional round for the seventh time in her nine years as head coach. “Going into spring ball and summer ball, knowing what we had, I was thinking that if we are middle of the pack I’m going to be happy. Then we open up with 25 straight wins. I started to believe that we’ve got something here.”

“I really don’t know much about Canton. We haven’t played them this season in any tournaments),” admitted Avenall, whose team has played a rigorous schedule the past few years, which has aided the team’s long tournament runs. “I know they are good. Everything we’ve heard about them (indicates) that they are good. They just beat Mercy (in the regionals) and they beat Novi in districts. We’ll get some film of them and watch and see what they are made of. Everyone that is left is good.”

Clarkston, which began the season 25-0-0, has only five losses all coming in bracket play during weekend tournaments. The Wolves have lost twice to Mercy, which finished 64-4-0, twice to Lake Orion, which is also in the state quarterfinals, and once to last year’s state champion Birmingham Marian, a team that Lake Orion knocked out in the regional semifinals last week.

There will be a new state champion and new state runner-up in Class A this season. In fact, only Temperance Bedford remains from last year’s Final Four. There could be four new teams in the semifinals come Thursday.

The state finals are all Saturday at Kellogg Arena.

This is also the first time in many years that the Elite Eight in Class A is made up of all public high schools. Over the past 35 years, private schools Marian, Mercy, Livonia Ladywood and Harper Woods Regina (now in Warren) have all made long runs to the Final Four in Class A. Public schools have produced the Class A state champion in every season from 1990-2008, with Marian ending that streak with titles the past two years. Public schools also won every Class A title from 1976 through 1987.

Additionally, no public high school from Oakland County has ever won an MHSAA state championship in volleyball.

“It’s been a long time where it’s been all public schools this far in the tournament,” added Avenall.

If Clarkston and Lake Orion both win their quarterfinals matches Tuesday night, they will face each other in the semifinals. That would be the first time that two OAA schools would have made the Final Four and played each other in that round in the same season.

Stay tuned.

IN DEEP TERRITORY

Below is a list of the current members of the Oakland Activities Association that have advanced to at least the state quarterfinals in volleyball since the MHSAA adopted the sport in 1976. The OAA first started in 1994-95 with the merger of the Metro Suburban Activities Association, Southeastern Michigan Association and Greater Oakland Activities League along with some schools from the Macomb-Oakland Athletic Conference and Suburban Athletic Conference. None of those conferences cease to exist anymore.

2011       Clarkston                  TBA

2011       Lake Orion                 TBA

2010       Clarkston                  Lost in quarterfinals to Farmington Hills Mercy

2007-F     Southfield                 Lost in quarterfinals to Fraser

2004       Birmingham Groves          Lost in quarterfinals ton Fraser

2003       Birmingham Seaholm*        Lost in quarterfinals to Marysville

2001       Birmingham Seaholm*        Lost in quarterfinals to Marysville

1997       Oxford*                    Lost in quarterfinals to Marysville

1992       West Bloomfield            Lost in quarterfinals to Portage Northern

1989       Rochester Adams            Lost in semifinals to Harper Woods Regina

1988       Lake Orion                 Lost in semifinals to Livonia Ladywood

1980       Troy                       Lost in semifinals to Livonia Clarenceville

1978       Ferndale                   Lost in quarterfinals to Flint Kearsley

1976       Clarkston                  Lost in quarterfinals to Flint Northern

1976       Ferndale                   Lost in state finals to Deaborn Fordson

* An asterisk denotes as a Class B school. All other schools reached the finals rounds as
Class A schools. F denotes fall 2007 season, as the court-ordered mandate of seasons
switch moved volleyball from winter to fall that year.

To submit information to www.northoaklandsports.com, e-mail dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com.  To advertise, e-mail advertising@northoaklandsports.com . Follow us on Twitter @LocalSportsFans and more than a dozen other social media networks.

Tags: Clarkston Girls Volleyball, featured, girls volleyball, MHSAA Girls Volleyball StateTournament, OAA Girls volleyball, Plymouth Canton Girls Volleyball, volleyball

Category: Clarkston, High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps