Madison David
MASON – Madison David and the Holt volleyball team accomplished one of their big goals by capturing a CAAC Blue championship.
The senior middle blocker and the Rams hope to add to what’s been a successful season by capturing a Class A district crown.
They took a step toward doing that goal Thursday evening.
Holt earned a spot in a district championship match with a 25-21, 25-19, 25-21 victory over Okemos in a semifinal contest at Mason High School.
“From the beginning and fifth grade, we’ve been working really hard trying to build up to this moment,” said David, who had a team-high 10 kills for the Rams. “We knew our senior year that we were going to win and we finally did and we pushed through.
“We’ve been very hungry. We’ve been dreaming on this moment our entire life and now it’s here.”
Senior setter Alana Sundermann had 27 assists and senior libero Hannah Whiteman had 26 digs and three aces to help Holt advance to face Mason in Saturday’s district final.
The Rams (27-10-5) knocked off Okemos for a third time this season and second time in eight days to earn what coach Kellie Sweitzer said was the program’s first state tournament victory in a few seasons.
“They’ve worked really hard over years as well as this season,” Sweitzer said. “We knew from the get go that this is what their main mission was to at least get past that first round and then win districts. We haven’t been past the first round – it’s been at least five years since that happened.
“This is a big accomplishment for them. Their goals are high (and they want) to win districts as well. They’ve been working really hard in practice. They had tons of energy tonight, which really got us through. The leadership on our team of the 11 seniors definitely helps a lot, but the younger girls were there today for support and encouragement as well.”
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.