Mount Saint Mary's sweeps past Community Christian in matchup of top volleyball state title contenders

OKLAHOMA CITY – Mount Saint Mary’s prides itself on playing any volleyball team at any time.

No matter what class they have been in, under coach James Ward, they have made a point to take on all comers.

So even though the top-ranked Rockets - the defending Class 5A champions - were bumped up to 6A right before the 2023 season began, that mindset stayed the same. That is why they faced off with 4A No. 1 Community Christian in a battle of two of the top state title contending teams.

While both teams are favored to win in its respective classes, on this night, Mount Saint Mary’s was a runaway train as they swept CCS 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22) Thursday at MSM.

“The key was to keep on being competitive and working hard as a team,” said Rockets' junior and Iowa commit Gia McGrew. “CCS is incredibly talented with incredibly talented players, so we just had to work together and focus and just be a team.”

The defending 4A runner-up Royals came into the contest with an unblemished 25-0 record. They had rolled through almost every team they had faced, losing a total of three sets. They hadn’t lost a set since Aug. 12 at the Norman High tournament.

However, Community Christian knew Mount Saint Mary’s would be their toughest opponent all season. With McGrew, Liv Ward and Ally Fees on the other side of the net, they were going to have their hands full.

That proved to be the case early on as the Rockets claimed the first two sets by identical 25-20 scores. Community Christian was able to keep it close and had their chances; however, MSM (25-3) made the plays down the stretch as they took an early 2-0 lead.

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“They were helping us a little bit,” James Ward said. “They missed quite a few serves and we weren't missing serves, so that was the advantage right up front.

"But our defense played pretty tough and had a good block up. We did some good things. It was a fun night.”

MSM needed one more victory to close out the match. But Community Christian once again kept the contest tight.

The Royals trailed by two, 20-18, when Landry Braziel hit a serve out of bounds. Fees and Georgia Ahlert followed that up with a pair of blistering kill shots to push the advantage to 23-18.

That was enough to slow down Community Christan’s momentum and Mount Saint Mary’s went on to pull out the victory.

The Rockets' Mackenzi Bass and Liv Ward combined for 31 digs. McGrew led the offensive charge with 11 kills while Fees added 10.

“I think that the key was definitely our mindset,” Fees said. “I think that the atmosphere helped a whole lot. It was a huge atmosphere and it was super fun.”