The McNicholas Rockets reached the inaugural Ohio High School Athletic Association boys volleyball state tournament in 2023 and this year reached their first state final since finishing runner-up in the 2008 Ohio High School Boys Volleyball Association finals. The step up to a state championship didn't need to wait another year.
The Rockets won the OHSAA boys volleyball Division II state championship over Columbus St. Charles in a come-from-behind five-set thriller, 21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-15, 15-11.
After falling behind quickly with a slow start that head coach Julie Mulvey said had plagued the team for the entire season, the Rockets took control to force a fifth set and win the state championship.
"We called timeout and go, 'Guys. Why do we have to start this way?' And then, they pulled around," she said.
The Rockets had a 17-point advantage in the middle three sets, winning by nine points, falling only by two and winning again by 10. The fifth set started with St. Charles senior and Division II Player of the Year Mladen Tague attacking into the net for a McNicholas lead. The Rockets held Tague to two kills and three errors in the deciding set.
"At the end of the day we just made them make a play," McNicholas senior Bryce Dillard said. "We have to get it over the net. Let them make the error and limit our errors. Put the ball on their court, play defense and see what happens."
At the end of the day, what happened was a McNicholas state championship and the third state championship by a Greater Catholic League-Coed team in the last three seasons, joining Fenwick in 2021 and Badin in 2022.
"I've been in this program forever," 15th-year head coach Mulvey said. "We've gone through years where we didn't hit .500. We went through years where we went to the Final Four, but this absolutely is the pinnacle of them all. It's awesome."
Ethan Gundrum, Gavin Gerhard lead the way for the Rockets
McNicholas junior Ethan Gundrum pulled his usual double duty as a setter and opposite hitter. Gundrum notched 16 kills and just five errors on 35 attacks and added 17 assists and a team-high 11 digs.
"Before every play, I just took a deep breath and played as aggressively as possible," Gundrum said. "It worked out in my favor. There's not much more than that, just being aggressive on every point."
His partner on the other side, Gavin Gerhard, led the Rockets in the state finals with 18 kills and was one of three Rockets with a pair of service aces, joining Dillard and Carson Tierney. Setter Ben Jones led with three aces and 20 assists while assisting on three blocks. Dillard assisted on four stops at the net with a solo stop.
Senior sendoff for Bryce Dillard
After graduating just two seniors last season, the powerful Rockets will lose just one after the 2024 campaign. A three-year varsity member, middle blocker Bryce Dillard will be the only senior departure.
In his final run with the Rockets, Dillard had over 150 kills, including the championship point in the final victory.
"I asked for it," Dillard said of getting served up the championship point. "I said 'Make it special at least,' It means a lot that they thought to give it to me there. We worked hard all year and anybody was deserving of that point. It just happened to be me.
"I'm really appreciative of everybody on the team to make that possible and to even get us to that point in the game."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'The pinnacle of them all': McNicholas wins first boys volleyball state championship
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