HUTCHINSON -- Like automobiles rolling off the assembly line, Bishop Miege creates champion volleyball players.

The Stags (23-18), who entered state as the eighth seed, went 2-1 in pool play, falling to top-seeded Clearwater. But they handed Andale its only loss and advanced as the top seed in the pool.

Miege then cruised through the semifinals and finals Saturday, winning its second straight Class 4A championship and third in four years. In the 4A final, Miege cruised to a 25-12, 25-14 triumph over third-seeded McPherson.

Coach Lindsay Zych-Franco has taken Miege to the past two titles, returning to her alma mater last year after guiding Lansing to the Class 5A championship in 2021.

It’s all in the Miege system, Zych-Franco said, one that has been in place since she was a student there under legendary coach Gwenn Pike, who coached at the school for 35 years before retiring in 2016, and one that Zych-Franco instills in her players. She has a staff of five assistant coaches who also know the system.

“Our whole staff is alumni at Miege,” she said. “All the traditions and all of that that we’ve learned in the program from when we were players, and we try to implement that for our players, too, so it’s fun.”

The pool-play opener loss Friday to Clearwater (25-21, 25-18) was a wake-up call for Miege, Zych-Franco said. Throughout their state victories this weekend, the Stags never needed a third set.

“Yesterday, when we lost to Clearwater, they were really good,” she said. “Every team we played was really, really tough. So, ever since we lost to Clearwater, we’ve kind of had our eyes on the prize and we weren’t going to let anyone come in here and beat us. Ever since that loss, we have not looked back since.

“One of our goals for this season is winning the serving-and-passing game. If we’re all passing, we’re never off serving. We have some strong, skilled servers.”

Those servers managed to record eight service aces in the two sets against McPherson.

The Stags develop their talent in all facets of the game. There is even a drill that helps improve the girls’ serving ability, Zych-Franco said.

“Sometimes, I go in there and pass some balls with them … we have some really strong serving kids with strong skills,” Zych-Franco said. “We do a lot of competitive serving drills in practice. We put them on different teams, and we try to make it competitive, and we try to aim serves – they maybe need to knock a chair off a box, or they maybe need to hit another player on the other side.

“I’m very technical, so ‘You need to hit a player in this zone,’ ‘the right side of this girl’s head,’ and we work a lot on that in practice, so game time, they know exactly what our staff is trying to tell them, and they execute very well.”

Miege’s serving played a critical role in both sets. Senior libero Gabby Williams led the way, serving a 4-0 run and a 6-0 run in the first set, then had a 7-0 run in the second set that included three service aces. Freshman Lochlar O’Bleness had two aces in a 3-0 run.

Meanwhile, Miege’s front line, led by juniors 6-foot-2 Trinniti Stevens, 5-9 Lauren Lopez and 5-8 Kirsten
Verhust, thwarted many McPherson scoring tries. Stevens would be tall enough to block the kill, or she teamed up with Verhust for key double blocks.

Stevens, who is joined this year by her sister, 6-0 freshman Olivia, does stand out on the court.

“Everyone else is not super tall, compared to who we play, but we just have awesome, athletic kids,” Zych-Franco said.

Lopez is another player who will be in demand from colleges next season, Zych-Franco said.

“She’s always impressive,” Zych-Franco said. “Front row-wise, back row-wise, serving, she’s always constantly impressive, and she’s such a fun kid to coach, because she’s so focused and so determined.
“Our team really feeds off of her.”

In both sets, Miege found a way to go on runs and leave the Bullpups (33-10) having to rally from trailing by double figures in each set.

In Saturday’s play, no single individual had huge numbers of kills or digs, but the team all performed as a unit.

“That was super-crucial for us,” Zych-Franco said. “And it’s been like that every game. We don’t have just one standout kid; we have everyone that does their job, and (Saturday) it just worked really well.”

Miege doesn’t have the glossiest record coming in, but the Stags’ 18 losses have either been to private Missouri schools or Kansas Class 5A and 6A schools. This gauntlet makes the Stags battle-tested when the state tournament rolls around.

“We play a really tough schedule in the EKL (Eastern Kansas League),” Zych-Franco said. “Sometimes, we played five freshmen. We had tons of injuries this season. And, we played six freshmen at one time, too, and it’s really helped them. The big games that we played, against St. Teresa’s (Mo.), (and) St. James (Academy) twice, (St. Thomas) Aquinas and all the Blue Valleys, it really gave our freshmen some confidence, but we need to be prepared to perform at their best at the state tournament.”

And Miege players are getting noticed. Senior Ava Martin will be attending San Jose State next year, and junior Stevens has committed to Middle Tennessee State.

Coaching runs in the family for Zych-Franco. Her father, Rick, coached boys basketball at Miege from 1996 until his retirement earlier this year.

“So, I’ve been through it at Bishop Miege since I was 2 years old,” she said. “We know the tradition and the (sports) success, and these girls come in here every day wanting to be a part of that. And bringing home their 28th state title is pretty big.”

Miege and McPherson have battled for state titles in both sports.

“I know my dad would love to beat them (McPherson),” Zych-Franco said. “I told our girls we need to win this for Terry English, our girls basketball coach who passed away last October. He always battled against McPherson, two great programs. We need to work hard for coach English on this one, too.”

Zych-Franco said she figured the final would be a rematch of the pool play match against Andale.

“But McPherson came out, and they just were not going to lose,” she said. “They played amazing against Andale, and they deserved to be in that championship game.

“We didn’t have a lot of ‘scout’ on McPherson, so we just went in really blind, and we just trusted in our ability. We told them team, ‘We’re not going to worry about them; we’re just going to focus on us.’ Whoever we have a matchup against, we were prepared, and we were going to win.”

Even though Miege loses three seniors, McPherson is only losing one, and coach Christy Doile said that, like Miege, the Bullpups have trained their players up the ranks, so that there wasn’t a learning curve for this season, and there won’t be one for next season as well.

“Last year was a lot of teaching and a lot of learning,” Doile said. “We finished the season really good in the month of October, compared to that beginning month.

“And then, this season we started right out of the gate, and we just kept going. We had a little bit of a letdown toward the end of this season, but I think it was a good awakening to kind of reset and get back on track.”

Next year will be one where the Bullpups will try to stay the course, Doile said.

“We just want to keep competing,” she said. “We want to be good in October.

“It takes a lot of preparation, a lot of execution from them, and then their confidence to execute as well. And then, to get back up and get ready for Andale (in the semifinal). It’s our fourth matchup with them (and) they have beaten us three times. And so, it was nice to execute and finish our game plan, because we had lost a couple of times to them in three sets and on match point, and (we) didn’t finish earlier in the season.”

Doile has had two daughters play for her. The older daughter, Brette, is a sophomore and plays volleyball for Cloud County. It was her Sophomore Night on Saturday, but her mother was otherwise engaged. Her younger daughter, Brooke, is a 5-8 sophomore on the current Bullpup roster.

“I try not to think about that (having her daughter as part of the team) too much when we’re playing or even in the season, because she becomes ‘one of them,’ ” Christy Doile said. “I feel like she’s a player – she’s one of them.

“When we won sub-state, she got really emotional and came over and gave me a big hug. She kind of caught me off-guard, because I get caught up in just coaching the team, and I forget that I’m also a mom. And then she catches me by surprise, because most of the time, they’re not super clingy or happy to be with Mom. Once I get back home and decompress, I’m going to appreciate and cherish these memories for a long time.”

The Bullpups were able to surpass the 30-victory mark this season, and to get to the title game may have alleviated some frustration, when they were a respectable 21-16 but lost in their sub-state.

“It was my worst season since 2006,” said Doile, who just completed her 18th year as head coach. “So, 2022 was my worst season at 21-16, but technically, numberwise, a ‘down’ year.”

Doile said she’s happy for her players getting 4A runner-up.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” she said. “They’re a fun bunch of girls.”

Martin is the only one of Miege’s seniors who has been here for not only the past two titles, but she also was a freshman on the 2020 championship team as well.

“This one, I feel like, is really special,” she said, “because we have so many young people, and I’ve known all their (older) siblings. It was like the final round, and it all came together and was really special.”

Being a veteran who has played with some, watched them graduate, then the younger sisters come in and play the Miege system.

“Especially because in my freshman year, it was my sister and all her friends and all their siblings, and they taught me everything I know,” Martin said. “And now, I get to pass the torch to all the young freshmen on our team.

Martin was responsible for setting up a number of the Stags’ kills in the match.

“As setter, it’s my goal to get all my hitters involved, establish them early,” she said. “(And) to keep the blockers on the other side honest, but it’s also just my favorite thing to make with the offense, because it’s just what I love doing, and I love all my hitters. When they get a kill, it’s just the best thing.”

She said it’s kind of wistful being her last high school match.

“We’re going to get on the bus, and we’re going to play the song ‘Good Old Days,’ and we’re all going to cry,” she said. “We’ve been crying on the way up here, because it’s really sad, because I love all these girls. I’m sad for it to be over, but I’m excited for the next step.”

In the third-place game, fifth-seeded Andale, the 2021 4A champion, went three sets to defeat No. 6 Louisburg, 23-25, 25-8, 25-16.
 

CLASS 4A

AT HUTCHINSON SPORTS ARENA

SEMIFINALS

Bishop Miege def. Louisburg, 25-10, 25-17; McPherson def. Andale, 25-21, 25-17.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Bishop Miege def. McPherson, 25-12, 25-14

THIRD PLACE

Andale def. Louisburg, 23-25, 25-8, 25-16.