By Fred Solis
Hutchinson Tribune
HUTCHINSON—The Andale Indians ran the tables at the 4A state volleyball tournament last weekend, winning five straight games and culminating in a state championship with a 2-1 victory over Topeka-Hayden in the final.
The top-seeded Indians, who finished the season 36-1, last won the state title in 2021.
Shawnee Mission-Bishop Miege, seeded No. 8, was the defending 4A state champion. The Stags also won the title in 2022.
“We watch a lot of film and we scout and we knew coming into this tournament we had a chance,” said Andale Coach Scott Johnson. “Obviously, you still have to play well.
“Say what you want about seeding, I was fine playing them (Bishop Miege) right off the bat,” Johnson said. “Let’s jump into the tournament, let’s see where we really stand, and I think that just motivated the girls. They played with energy, they played with intensity, and they kept that up all weekend long.
“We said at the beginning of the year, we could see ourselves as state champions, but I told them, everybody starts the season with the goal of being state champions,” Johnson said. “It’s what are you going to do to get there. We have to out-work, we have to out-practice the other teams because everyone wants it, and literally every team this weekend is a great team.
“To rattle off five wins in a row against the best competition we saw all season just shows how much they’ve developed and worked towards that goal,” Johnson said.
The Indians barely broke a sweat in pool play Friday, the first day of the tournament, as they knocked off Bishop Miege, No. 5 Paola and then No. 4 St. George-Rock Creek in two sets apiece, ending the day in first place in Pool 1.
Meanwhile, in Pool 2 No. 6 Topeka-Hayden prevailed with wins over No. 3 McPherson, No. 2 Clay Center and No. 7 Buhler. Topeka Hayden emerged in first place in Pool 2 and drew a match with Paola in the semifinal, while Andale faced No. 2 Clay Center.
The Indians had their work cut out for them against the Tigers, though. Neither team could gain an advantage through most of Set 1, and were tied at 14-all before the Indians opened up a four-point lead following two kills, a block and a Tigers error, forcing Clay Center to call a time out.
But the Tigers turned the tables on the Indians with a 6-4 run to bring them within two, 22-20, of Andale, when Johnson called a timeout. In the end, though, the Indians got just one more point while the Tigers recorded a kill and a block, and used three Andale hitting errors to take the first set 25-23.
Andale’s loss of their first set in the tournament lit a fire, and the Indians came out on a 6-2 run to start Set 2. After the Tigers rallied to tie the score at 15, the Indians got fired up for another scoring spree that put them back on top 22-17. Andale went on to take the set 25-19 to even the game with the decisive third set to come.
Once again, the two sides matched each other point-for-point for an early 6-6 tie. But after the Indians broke out on top 13-10, the Tigers called a timeout. When Andale went up 18-13, Clay Center called another timeout, but they couldn’t stop the Indians, who were on a roll and won the set 25-18.
In the other semifinal, Topeka-Hayden took care of Paola 25-18, 25-18, setting up a final game against Andale for all the marbles.
The Indians rode the momentum from their semifinal win to easily beat the Wildcats 25-12 in the first set. In Set 2, though, the Indians found themselves playing from behind from the beginning as Topeka-Hayden led by as many as nine points, 19-10.
Andale ratcheted up the intensity as Hayden Grimes and Abbey McNeal attacked the Wildcats’ right side repeatedly to tie the set at 24. But Topeka-Hayden had the last say with a 27-25 win.
With the state title on the line, Andale’s seniors stepped up. Senior co-captain Mayla Spexarth huddled up the team and told them, ‘We’re here for a reason. We’re here to compete.’
“And that’s exactly what we did,” she said.
Adding to the drama, fellow senior co-captain Hayden Grimes, the team’s engine, was battling through cramps in both legs and her Achilles.
“I was standing in left back, and you could tell I was in pain, and Scott looked at me and like, ‘Do I need to take a time out?’” Grimes said. “I took a deep breath and I was like, ‘No. I just want to finish the game. Don’t use a timeout on this.’
“He was like, ‘Please, finish the game for me.’ So I did because I knew after the game I’d get taken care of by all the families and the student section. It’s really special just knowing he has the trust in me to do these things even when those things happen to me,” she said.
Neither the Indians nor the Wildcats could get an edge through as they knotted the score at 6, 17 and 19 points during the final set. But from there, the Indians hammered home kills while their defense held the Wildcats in check for the 25-22 win that unleashed an eruption of celebratory emotions.
“It feels amazing,” Spexarth said. “I feel like I’m in a dream right now, but I’m just so proud of our team for working hard. I couldn’t imagine a better team and a better season. We had a great season, a great record.
“From the start, we wanted this. Us three captains (including senior Mia Aouad) talked about winning it, and that’s what we did: we worked hard. I just couldn’t be more proud of the team,” Spexarth said.
While Grimes, Spexarth and Aouad were the co-captains, senior Carley Keller was the team’s emotional leader.
“I really never thought I’d be able to be on the team,” Keller said. “To be one of the leaders and one of the people who are on the team the most catching people up was the most amazing feeling.
“We wanted this since Day 1, and we’ve been working so, so hard, and it’s all paid off. I can’t tell you how proud I am of every one of the girls and how well they played and how well they did their job. I’m so happy for everybody. The girls are amazing. We get along so well. I could not have asked for a better team,” Keller said.
“I don’t think there’s ever going to be words to describe that feeling like you have winning a state championship,” echoed Grimes. “Whenever I walked in Day 1, I told the whole team, ‘This is our year. We’re winning a state championship.’”
Grimes ended her high school career with 1,123 kills (0.254 hitting percentage), 94 blocks, 1,227 digs, and 1,498 serve-receptions. For the tournament, she had 419 kills (0.342 hitting percentage), 29 blocks, 251 digs, and 382 serve receptions with a 2.35 serve-receive rating.
In the championship game, she had a team-leading 78 kills (0.298 hitting percentage), 53 digs, four aces, a 2.21 serve-receive rating and five blocks.
“This group of seniors is really deserving of it,” Johnson said. “Hayden Grimes has been a four-year varsity starter, but the senior group around her, not only have we gotten leadership out of them, every single one of those kids has gotten better and contributed to a state championship.
“I told Hayden at the beginning of the year, ‘You can’t win state by yourself.’ I think we showed that this week. We were the most well-rounded team out there.”
“She’s huge,” Johnson said. “I think she’s our leading passer, our leading attacker, our serve-receiver. She’s a great blocker, she’s a great server. That’s going to be hard to replace next year. But she’s made everybody better around her, and I think that’s the key to the run we made this weekend.”
Case in point, juniors McNeal recorded 61 kills (0.266 hitting percentage) with four blocks, Reagan Winter had 19 kills (0.182 hitting percentage) and a team-leading 12 blocks, and Abbi Winter led the team with 84 assists in the state tournament.
“I’ve been in the club world for a while,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing like this. The community of Andale has kind of rallied around me, rallied around the team, the girls. They’ve been super helpful, whether it’s having a place for us to watch film, or team dinners. You name it, it’s been great.”