Montcalm Volleyball Team up state

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First year of the team and they advanced today. Congrats girls!

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Early success

 

Montcalm state bound in first year

 

By BRIAN WOODSON

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

MONTCALM —When the Montcalm volleyball team gathered for its first day of practice in August, there was exactly one girl who had ever played the sport at any level.

 

Three months later, the Generals are one of eight Class A teams playing for a state championship.

 

“It’s amazing, I am so happy,” said Montcalm senior Niki Perry, the lone experienced player who helped organize Montcalm’s first team. “We’re just going to go and have fun and whatever happens happens.”

 

Montcalm, which advanced to the Class A state tournament with last Saturday’s Region III runner-up finish, will play the state’s second ranked team, Charleston Catholic, in the opening round on Friday at the Charleston Civic Center. Tip-off is at around 3:30 p.m.

 

The winner will play top-ranked and three-time state champion Wirt County or No. 3 Doddridge County later that evening in the semifinals.

 

“We’re pleased to be there, but we think we’ve got a chance,” said Perry’s father and Montcalm coach David Perry, whose Generals lost in the sectional and regional finals to Greater Beckley Christian. “Greater Beckley beat Charleston Catholic this year and I think if we play volleyball like we are capable of then we can play with Greater Beckley.

 

“So I assume we can play with Charleston Catholic. I hope we can surprise them.”

 

The Generals have done a lot of surprising this season, from winning their first-ever match against Iaeger to rallying from a 2-games-to-1, 17-22 deficit to beat Meadow Bridge in the regional semifinals to advance to Charleston.

 

“We just started playing volleyball, we started making great passes and we had a lot of blocks that came at crucial times,” said David Perry, of the regional win over the Wildcats. “I’ve been to NBA games, I’ve been to NFL games, and it was by far the most spiritual event that I have ever witnessed. It was something to see.”

 

Niki added: “I had a little bit of doubt in there, but once we started coming back, I was like we might have this. When we won we were very excited.”

 

Perry is just excited to be able to play her favorite sport. One of five seniors on the Montcalm team, Perry moved to Mercer County from Florida three years ago, only to find no volleyball team at her new school.

 

“I missed it super bad,” said Perry, who played on several AAU gold medal winning clubs and school volleyball teams in the Sunshine State.

 

For two years, Perry dealt with it, playing basketball and softball, but never gave up her dream of playing volleyball on the prep level.

 

“I told the principal about it and I got some girls to sign papers,” said Niki, who hopes to play college volleyball at Concord. “Then I talked my dad into being the coach and we got it together.”

 

While David Perry and other supporters started from scratch, purchasing the necessary equipment like nets, poles, balls and uniforms, his daughter was busy recruiting players.

 

With a collection of talented athletes that have reached state basketball competition in the past, Niki insists not to be all that surprised with Montcalm’s success in its first season.

 

“I’m not surprised because when I first saw these girls, they really showed improvement by the first couple of days,” Niki said. “It was good, you could see improvement in the first day just by looking at them and seeing that a bunch of them are athletic and they know basically what to do.”

 

Still, on the first day of practice, David Perry had a team full of eager athletes, but only one who had ever played the sport.

 

“Only my daughter,” said David, with a laugh. “Nobody else had ever played any organized volleyball before ever, but I saw potential.”

 

Yet, David didn’t see that as all bad.

 

“It was kind of like having a blank slate, nobody had any bad habits to break so it was all starting over,” David said. “They were like sponges, they absorbed everything and they have such big hearts, which makes a big difference.

 

“It was interesting. We started with the very, very basics, which we still do at practice. Every practice we do basics and you can win a lot of volleyball games with the basics.”

 

Montcalm will enter the state tourney with a 12-14 record, having defeated Mercer Christian in the sectionals and Meadow Bridge in the regionals to keep their season alive.

 

“We’re very pleased, but to be honest, I don’t want to sound cocky, but I really was not surprised,” David said. “After I saw what we had to do to win one of the games of the region, I knew if we played like we’re capable to playing then I knew we had a good chance of going...

 

“Of course, not at that first practice, but midway through the season, I was very hopeful that we could be at this point.”

 

Niki Perry is joined on the team by fellow seniors Kayla Pennington, Krislyn Bogart, Misty Bowles and Andrea Roberts. There’s also juniors Tara Havens, Lindsey Hamblin, Ashley Burgess, Brooke Bailey, Amanda Pigg and Candace Flanigan, along with freshman Miranda Crane.

 

David Perry can’t say enough about how much this team has progressed from that first practice back in August.

 

“I think their heart is probably the biggest strength,” said David, who has seen the team passing percentage improve from 35 to 60 percent, and the service percentage is now above 80 percent, and approached 90 in the regionals.

 

He added: “Just playing and improving. The improvement has been phenomenal from the beginning until now. We’re a good volleyball team now.”

 

The future looks bright too, with an athletic eighth grade class waiting in the wings. Niki expects the Lady Generals to continue being a success, long after she is gone.

 

“I hope that the program keeps coming on and girls keep coming out wanting to play,” Niki said. “People are starting to like it. More people are showing up at the games and they’re enjoying it.

 

“That is really cool.”

 

—Contact Brian Woodson

 

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com