AOTW: Dubay is Rochester Hills Christian’s three-sport sparkplug

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

ROCHESTER HILLS — Allise Dubay had a decision to make four years ago.

Stay at a small school and play three sports or go to a large high school and probably play just one sport.

She chose the small-school route and has never regretted it.

Dubay is now a senior at tiny Rochester Hills Christian, even though she lives just down the road from Troy High School. She is not only is playing three sports, but is a star as well — in all of them.

“It was a hard decision, but I like the small school (atmosphere),” admitted Dubay. “I can play three different sports and I get to be with a lot of my closest friends. If I went to a public school (Troy), then I would probably be able to play only one sport.”

Dubay will graduate in June with 12 varsity letters between girls soccer, girls volleyball and girls basketball. She has garnered All-Fundamental Baptist Athletic Conference Red Division honors in all three sports at least twice apiece, and will likely win the FBAC-Red MVP in girls basketball this season — she was league MVP as a sophomore and runner-up as a junior — and is a likely first-team all-stater in girls basketball.

PROWLER: Rochester Hills Christian senior guard steals this pass and goes in towards the basket in a recent win for the Eagles. Dubay is trying to lead her Eagles to their first MACS state championship in any sport. File Photo | Dan Stickradt

“She’s such a great athlete,” admitted Paul Bronsing, who has coached Dubay since the junior high level and is the school’s athletics director. “What a great leader, too, for all of the younger girls. She makes everyone around her better. We had such a young team this season with five freshmen and a couple of sophomores on varsity and she is the one running the team.”

Although she pulls much weight in the athletics department as a three-sport standout, Dubay is only 5-foot-2 in stature. But her on-court sense in volleyball and basketball, her field vision in soccer, her overall athleticism and her exceptional quickness has allowed her to become one of the top female athletes in school history.

To add in an all-important-fact, the senior three-sport captain’s teams win, too.

During Dubay’s junior season, she was the sole non-senior starter on a basketball team dominated by eight seniors, and this year is the only senior on the roster. Last year the Eagles were 22-2. This year, Rochester Hills Christian is 17-4.

That is just the tip of the iceberg for Dubay, who has entrenched herself in the school records books in all three sports, ranking in the top 10 in single-game, season and career records in all three sports.

The one thing that has eluded Dubay is a state championship. The Eagles have come close in the Michigan Association of Christian Schools Division I state tournament in each sport, but has not walked of the playing surface with a state title in girls sports — in school history.

During her junior year, Rochester Hills was upset in the Division I state quarterfinals by Troy Bethany Christian in volleyball despite being ranked second in the state after the setter-defensive specialist helped her team win its first FBAC Red Division league championship in school history and set the season records for wins at 22. As a senior last fall, her team shared the league title and reached the MACS quarterfinals.

In girls basketball last winter, the Eagles advanced to the state semifinals for the first time, but were upset by eventual state champion Davison Faith Baptist.  This Friday, RHC is back in the semifinals ranked second in the state in the MACS and will play Troy Bethany Christian with the right of advancing to the finals for the first time.

“We’ve come so close a few times,” said Dubay of winning a MACS state championship. “Last year, we were one of the favorites (in each of the three sport) but we didn’t win it. We were favored in basketball.”

In girls soccer, the Eagles made their first appearance in a MACS state title game in any sport, but still came up short in a 1-0 loss to Troy Bethany. Dubay, who plays midfielder in soccer, set the single-season assist record last season — sound familiar — and was second on the team in scoring.

“We haven’t had too many girl athletes around here like her,” offered Rochester Hills Christian soccer coach Jerry Slota.

The soccer team likely faces a major rebuilding year in the spring, as eight starters and 11 players graduated. That means that the basketball season is her Dubay’s last shot at a state crown.

“Our goal is to win it all this season,” said Dubay. “We are a young team, but we have played really well. I don’t think anyone anticipated us to do as well as we did.”

Dubay has long since established the school’s all-time assists and steals record on the hard-court, and ranks in the top 10 in career scoring as well. This will be her last basketball season.

Dubay is likely going to go to Grand Valley State University, unless a scholarship offer comes through from a smaller school. She is interested in perhaps trying for a walk-on position for the women’s soccer team at GVSU.

Dubay plays club soccer in the Troy with several high-level players that attend a variety of large high schools in the area, such as Troy, Troy Athens, Auburn Hills Avondale and Birmingham Seaholm, among others, and has shined on those teams as well.

Two of Dubay’s siblings have gone to Troy High and played baseball there. Jesse Dubay graduated last June and Josh Dubay is a sophomore with the Colts. Aaron Dubay is a seventh-grade middle school athlete, but has yet to decide where he will attend high school.

The second of four siblings does not regret going the small-school route.

“I’m glad I did it,” she smiled.

And if the Eagles don’t claim any MACS titles?

“I don’t want to think that way. I have to remain positive,” she smiled. “I know we’re going to do it this time.”

After everything that Allise Dubay has done for the girls athletics at Rochester Hills Christian, it would be a benchmark well deserved.

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