St. Mary’s emerges with boys volleyball title

Published 8:30 am Saturday, June 1, 2024

Just like that, the first “emerging” season of boys volleyball is over for the 3A/2A/1A teams and St. Mary’s ended it on a high note late Friday afternoon.

The top-seeded Crusaders (20-3) won the 3A/2A/1A championship bracket, winning all six sets in three best-of-three matches. It was capped off with a 25-20, 25-13 victory over Portland Adventist to win the title at Olympus Sports Center in Hillsboro.

There was only one set that St. Mary’s trailed in, with it coming in the first against Portland Adventist. But Chris Kranenburg took the reins at serving when the Crusaders were down 17-13 and led the way to an 18-all tie.

Connor Gibbs registered 11 digs, 10 kills and three kills while Cole Mayfield had six kills and six digs. C.J. Seggelink added 20 assists and Kent David put up nine digs and three kills.

“We had to work hard in the semifinals and definitely the finals to win all six sets,” said St. Mary’s boys volleyball coach Katie Miller, whose team went 10-0 in Southern Region play. “We had some great plays and some great teamwork and they’ve just really come together and played hard.”

“Connor Gibbs really stepped up today,” she added. “C.J. was getting to the ball, and David had some really good hits to keep the other team on their heels. It was a really well-rounded game from all of our players.”

St. Mary’s started with a 25-10, 25-13 victory in the quarterfinals over Pleasant Hill and added a 25-11, 25-18 semifinals triumph over Central Christian. In the center of it all, Gibbs was a strongpoint throughout the day with a combined 24 kills and nine aces over the three matches.

Cascade Christian also qualified to be a part of the bracket but had to decline the berth due to a lack of players available for the tournament. The Challengers (12-6) were last year’s champion in the Silver Division while St. Mary’s finished third.

With a year of built-up awareness, Miller was happy to see how the game has grown among the smaller schools in Oregon.

“I found this first season as more competitive than the previous test waters type of season,” said Miller, who was voted 3A/2A/1A boys volleyball coach of the year. “It was a lot more fun to see the competition and to see the coaches and the players even just took it a step up from last year, so I’m excited for the future.”

The Oregon School Activities Association ruled last October that the first season as an emerging activity would be this spring. There will be another similar season in 2025 before the OSAA executive board will vote on whether to officially sanction the activity in 2026 or keep it at its current status.