Oklahoma high school volleyball: Edmond Memorial, Mount St. Mary advance to state finals

Class 6A: Edmond Memorial advances with win against Norman North

Edmond Memorial is just one win away from claiming its first volleyball title since 2016.

The Bulldogs used a strong start to beat Norman North 3-1 (25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20) in the Class 6A semifinals Friday morning at Noble High School.

With the win, they’ll face Jenks in the championship at 11 a.m. Saturday. Jenks downed Tulsa Bishop Kelley, 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 25-23).

Edmond Memorial dominated the first two sets, but the Timberwolves (22-11) — who are led by senior West Virginia commit Katie Kolar — bounced back and made things interesting as they won the third, but Edmond Memorial (29-5) won it with a back-and-forth battle in the final set.

Edmond Memorial’s victory was a team effort, but its two setters — juniors Madi Hathaway and Kat Rowe — certainly stood out.

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“They just dominated,” Edmond Memorial coach Natalie Murray said. “It was like they couldn’t do anything wrong.”

Hathaway and Rowe accumulated a bunch of kills and assists and led the Bulldogs offensively. Edmond Memorial, which has won five championships since 2005, also played solid defense throughout the contest.

“We got so many great defensive digs, digging up some of their harder hits,” Murray said. “And our hitters were so aggressive in going for it, and that’s really what it took to win.”

Despite getting the early lead, Edmond Memorial knew Norman North was capable of making a comeback. But the Bulldogs stayed resilient and are now headed to the championship because of that.

"We had to be so tough because Norman North has so many great players," Murray said. "We could not relax for one second. Just play your best volleyball 100% of the time or they're going to cram it down our throat, which they had moments that they did."

—Nick Sardis, Staff writer

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Mount St. Mary advances to third straight state title match

A trio of Mount St. Mary volleyball players sat around a table and shared their fresh reactions to reaching the state finals.

“Great,” said Ally Fees.

“Amazing,” added Gia McGrew.

“Really, really good,” said Ella Hale.

The Rockets exuded joy as they formed a celebration circle on the court after defeating Lawton MacArthur, 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-11), Friday afternoon in Noble. Mount St. Mary blazed through the Class 5A semifinal match to secure a spot in the finals for the third straight year.

The Rockets will face Bishop McGuinness. They're seeking not only back-to-back state titles, but also a program record of 41 single-season wins.

If they continue the dominant ways that have carried them to this point, they can do it.

“I’ve been to a lot of state finals, and it’s very hard to win state no matter what,” said coach James Ward. “I’ve got more runner-ups than I do championships. So we want to go out and work hard and see if we can come away with (a title) tomorrow.”

Mount St. Mary started its semifinal match on a 4-0 run and didn’t look back. Fees, a junior outside hitter, led the Rockets with 12 kills. She also tallied an ace, her 60th of the season.

Hale had 11 kills, while McGrew recorded seven. Senior libero Maria Roquemore posted a serve percentage of 93 with a pair of aces. And the offense flowed through Liv Ward, the sophomore setter McGrew described as “a beast.”

“When I see my teammates going and getting kills, it makes me feel so good and it makes me feel so happy for them,” McGrew said. “And plus, our just setter is loading us up with great sets.”

—Hallie Hart, Staff writer

Class 5A: Bishop McGuinness sweeps Carl Albert

As a heavy favorite and with a potential match against a big local rival looming tantalizingly close, it would have been oh-so-easy for No. 2-ranked Bishop McGuinness to look past No. 6 Carl Albert on Friday in the Class 5A semifinals.But the Fighting Irish did the exact opposite, playing sharp, crisp volleyball en route to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-18) romp over Carl Albert in The Den.McGuinness (32-3) now can look forward to a rematch with No. 1 – and fellow Oklahoma City Catholic school – Mount St. Mary (40-1) on Saturday in the title game. The Rockets made quick work of Lawton MacArthur, winning 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-11).

McGuinness will be seeking its second state title, with the first coming in 2003. One of the Irish’s three losses this season was by a 3-0 count to Mount St. Mary on Sept. 1.“It’s so tough to keep what’s in front of you in front of you and not try and look to the future,” McGuinness coach Kelli Miller said. “We didn’t. We stayed focused on what was in front of us and now we can look toward the bigger problem that is (Saturday). It’s going to be hard, but we’ve been telling the girls we can handle hard.”Carl Albert (19-18) stunned No. 3 Piedmont in Thursday’s quarterfinals, but the Titans scored more than three consecutive points only twice against McGuinness. Senior Grace Smallwood led McGuinness with 10 kills, two aces and three blocks and also played a key role on the Irish’s defense, as she played all six spots on the court. Freshman Charlotte Nelson added nine kills (five in the third set) and three blocks and sophomore Greer Deleon had six kills, three blocks and an ace.

“I thought we played pretty clean,” Miller said. “We set goals for ourselves at the beginning and we met the three goals we set. It seems like sometimes when you get ahead, it’s easy to relax and they didn’t relax. They stayed intense and they stayed disciplined.”

The Irish seemed to lose their focus only once. After easily taking the first two sets, they fell behind 10-6 in the third set, prompting Miller to call her only timeout of the match. Whatever she said worked, as McGuinness rattled off six straight points – including a kill by Olivia Metz that made it 12-10 – and never trailed again.

Miller said her players “pushed back. They really started pushing a little bit harder. It wasn’t anything specific. It was just, ‘Remember who you are. Remember our goals and keep fighting – and they did.”

Senior Madison Stuart led the Titans with seven kills and an ace and senior Emily Boyer added five kills, an ace and a block.

—Murray Evans, For The Oklahoman

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma high school volleyball: 2022 Class 6A, 5A semifinal scores