Girls Greater Catholic League touts volleyball gauntlet

For those on hand, it was a surprising – if not shocking – turn of events.

But in hindsight, maybe it shouldn't have been.

The Ohio Division I state volleyball final on Nov. 12 pitted the two top-ranked teams in the state – St. Ursula Academy (Toledo) and Mount Notre Dame (Cincinnati). St. Ursula, the defending state champion, entered the final 28-0, winners of 48 straight and rated fourth nationally in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25. Mount Notre Dame, on the other hand, was 23-5 and had lost three of four to close the regular season.

In short, MND was the clear underdog.

But a strange thing happened last Saturday at Wright State University's Nutter Center in Dayton. No, it wasn't just that MND won the match 3-1 (25-14, 25-22, 23-25, 25-8) for its sixth state title in program history: It was that it won two of the games by a combined 28 points.

"I think we were able to jump on them early, which got them out of rhythm a bit," third-year MND coach Joe Burke said.

MND led the first game 10-2, won 25-14 and then took a closely contested second game 25-23. St. Ursula, which had won 23 of 28 matches on the year in straight sets – including nine in a row – was suddenly down 2-0. Even after taking the third game 25-23, St. Ursula had no shot in the fourth. MND stormed out to leads of 8-2, 16-5 and 20-6 before winning 25-8.

Surprise? Upset?

Maybe, maybe not.

The Girls Greater Cincinnati League Scarlet division, of which MND is a member, has had at least one of its six teams advance to the Division I state final in 15 of the last 17 years, winning 13 state titles. During that time, there have been six all-GGCL state finals with the Scarlet also going 7-2 against nonleague opponents. In addition, the GGCL hasn't gone consecutive years without a state title since a four-year drought from 1989-92.

In other words, the league has become to Ohio volleyball what the SEC has become to college football – dominant.

But why?

"I think volleyball in Cincinnati is – and has been – very popular," said Denise Harvey, who coaches Mother of Mercy (Cincinnati), also of the GGCL-Scarlet. "When girls are looking to choose schools to go to and they're thinking about athletics as part of that process, I think if you're a volleyball player then you gravitate toward schools that have had success and continue to do that. And in Cincinnati, that's the GGCL."

Indeed, the GGCL-Scarlet's state dominance extends beyond the previous 17 years. In fact, at least one league member has advanced to the big-school state semifinals or beyond in all but four years since 1975, when the state tournament began. But that's not at all. Consider:

• St. Ursula Academy (Cincinnati), with eight state titles, is the most decorated volleyball program in state history. Six of those titles were won in Division II from 1993-98 – a state record for most consecutive championships.

• Seton (Cincinnati) and MND have won a state-record six Division I state titles. Seton also won a state-record 102 consecutive matches from 1984-87, while MND won three straight state titles from 1998-2000 and went 78-8 in the process.

• Ursuline and Mercy have both won four state titles. Ursuline went 84-2 from 2008-10, while Mercy was the first GGCL school to post an undefeated season, which it accomplished in 1977.

• McAuley (Cincinnati) is the lone member of the Scarlet not to have won a state title, but it has advanced to the state tournament twice, most recently in 2000.

Harvey, who played for Mercy before graduating in 1991, and Burke, who started a boys team at Cincinnati Moeller in 1995 and won state as a senior in 1997, both said the vast majority of girls they coach arrive as freshmen already having played volleyball for years, which Harvey attributes to the advent and growing popularity of club volleyball, particularly in the Queen City. The GGCL's success speaks for itself, and young girls wish to be a part of it once they reach high school.

Harvey did not attend the state final this year, but upon hearing the result, theorized that serve-receive and ball control had a lot to do with it, and she was right. MND had 12 aces, including six by junior Michelle Strizak, who had twice as many as St. Ursula had as a team (three) – not to mention a match-high 22 kills. Strizak has verbally committed to Illinois.

"I feel (serving) is a huge strength of our programs down here," Harvey said. "MND is a great serving team and they have been for years, and if you're not ready for that, you can't get into your offense."

Aces aside, St. Ursula senior setter Madison Strall had 23 of her team's 44 assists, as compared to MND senior setter Aubree Hord, who had a whopping 43 of 53.

"We were struggling all day trying to get in the flow of our offense," St. Ursula coach John Buck said after the match. "They served really well and had us on our heels the whole time. We were never able to get in the flow of our game."

Buck, who has a career record of 368-62 (.856), has built one of Ohio's top volleyball programs, one that has advanced to the state tournament eight times since 2000. During that time, however, St. Ursula is 1-6 against the GGCL in state matches.

"John Buck's a great coach, and I think he would be the first to admit that he's at a definite disadvantage when it comes to playing a GGCL school because of strength of schedule," Harvey said. "And I don't know if there's anything he can do about that except travel all over the state, and you can't do that with high school kids. You can't come down to Cincinnati two days a week to play the GGCL when you're from Toledo. That's just not possible. Unfortunately for them, the strength of play up there isn't what it is down here. Here, you have to concentrate on every area of your game. You have to be a great serving team, a great defensive team, a great offensive team. Maybe some teams playing in different parts of the state can get by with with being great in one aspect of the game and that can propel them through their season. In the GGCL, we beat our heads against the wall for six to eight weeks during the season (competing with each other) – but it pays off."

And it's not just the coaches who sense that.

"When you're playing the toughest teams twice a week, you can't not be prepared for the (state) tournament," said MND senior libero Kelsey Wolf, a University of Kentucky recruit who had a match-high 26 digs in the state final. "You have to prepare and practice every day because (any team can) beat you on any given night. You can't take any team lightly, and it helps you mentally when you get to the state tournament."

When asked to assess how the GGCL stacks up with other volleyball conferences both regionally and nationally, Harvey and Burke admitted that's a tough question to answer. Harvey said the GGCL has to be at least one of the ten toughest leagues in the Midwest, while Burke said it is likely on par with the nation's elite.

That, however, isn't his primary concern.

"I don't know a lot about the other conferences," Burke said, "but I do know this one prepares you for the state tournament."