Four KC Metro high school teams claimed state volleyball titles on the Kansas side

The Kansas City area boasts four state championship teams in high school volleyball on the Kansas side of the state line.

Blue Valley West, Bishop Miege and Heritage Christian Academy all claimed state titles Friday — the Jaguars of Blue Valley West in Class 6A, the Bishop Miege Stags in Class 4A and the Heritage Christian Chargers in Class 2A.

St. Thomas Aquinas followed Saturday by winning the 5A championship.

Here’s a recap of each state champion’s road to victory:

Class 6A

Reprising a tough, three-game pool-play match from Friday morning, it was an all-Johnson County showdown for the hardware Friday evening at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina.

And in the end, Blue Valley West came out on top with a straight-sets victory over Olathe Northwest for the 6A title.

The Jaguars needed three games to beat the Ravens in pool play earlier in the day, but in the match that mattered most, they secured the trophy with a 25-21, 25-17 decision.

Gutsy Olathe Northwest went 2-1 in pool play but beat Washburn Rural in a slugfest seminal — 18-25, 25-11, 25-20 — to reach the finale. Blue Valley West won all three of its pool-play matches, including the three-game affair against the Ravens, then beat Garden City in the semis en route to the title.

Class 4A

The Stags are state champs again after defeating Andale 25-23, 25-15 at Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson Friday.

Payton Verhulst, who will play basketball at the University of Louisville next year, served the winner for Bishop Miege’s remarkable 26th state title.

Bishop Miege didn’t advance past sub-state last season after winning the 2018 state championship, but the showing the team had this week was nothing short of dominant.

The Stags swept all three of their pool-play matches Friday morning in two games, then beat Ottawa 25-22, 25-10 to reach the championship match.

Andale defeated McPherson 25-17, 25-13 to reach the final.

Ottawa beat McPherson 9-25, 25-12, 25-21 for the 4A third-place consolation title.

Class 2A

Heritage Christian Academy in Olathe is a state champion again, too. Pretty great track record for a school that opened just a decade ago.

The Chargers beat Smith Center 25-21, 25-14 at United Wireless Arena in Dodge City to claim their third state title since 2010.

Heritage Christian finishes its season 30-8 after knocking off Smith Center in straight sets.

The Chargers advanced to the title match with a 25-9, 25-11 victory over Waubansee in the semifinals. They had beaten Smith Center 25-23, 21-25, 25-21 during a hard-fought match in pool play Friday morning and finished pool play with three wins against no losses.

Class 5

It was the Saints’ turn to shine Saturday in Salina.

Aquinas (24-2) cruised unbeaten through morning pool play to set up seeding for the semifinals, beating Maize South, Lansing and Bishop Carroll to reach the afternoon semis holding the No. 1 seed.

Aquinas then defeated No. 4 Maize South 25-8, 25-9 to reach the title match against 26-1 Lansing — the third seed and only team that had taken a game from the Saints all day (in pool play that morning). Lansing reached the finale with a two-game victory over second-seeded Bishop Carroll.

In the championship match, there was no third game needed as the Saints won the best-of-three affair 25-13, 26-14. Carroll beat Maize South for third place.

This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 6:17 PM.