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Rising to the Challenge
Home to three-time defending champions, Stillwater Christian hosts state volleyball tournament
Sarah Paolini, center, and teammates celebrate a point scored against Flathead during Stillwater Christian School’s volleyball win on their home court. Lido Vizzutti | Flathead Beacon
The peerless streak that Stillwater Christian’s volleyball team is on, containing three straight state championships and only three losses in 110 matches, began with a fortuitous phone call out of the blue.
In the fall of 2009, a scheduling conflict at the last minute eliminated one of Columbia Falls’ opponents. The Wildkats wanted to find a replacement but the chances were slim since the local Class A and Class B schools had full schedules. Hoping to at least salvage a match for the freshman team, John Thompson, the athletic director at the time, contacted Stillwater Christian and asked if the Cougars would be interested.
With a school enrollment of almost 90 students at the time, Stillwater Christian’s varsity athletic teams were used to playing other small schools in the Montana Christian Athletic Association or occasionally Class B and Class A freshman teams.
The Stillwater volleyball team, which is hosting this week’s MCAA state tournament starting Thursday, built itself into a strong program in the MCAA despite playing only 14 games a season on average and fielding fewer than 20 players overall in the early years. The Cougars won seven MCAA state championships between 1993 and 2008. But former head coach Dave Shawback wanted more challenges for his girls; that’s the only way they would keep getting better.
When Thompson called, Shawback asked if Stillwater could play Columbia Falls’ varsity team. The response sounded something like, “Are you sure?”
The two varsity teams met in Columbia Falls. Shawback remembers the excitement surrounding Stillwater’s first-ever match against a Class A varsity team.
“All the players and parents were super excited about it,” Shawback said. “(The players) were really mentally prepared with the anticipation of a really competitive volleyball match. In volleyball, that definitely dictates how you play.”
Featuring a talented freshman starter named Jordan Danz, the Cougars stunned Columbia Falls, winning in three sets.
“They played almost flawlessly,” Shawback said.
The victory was a watershed moment for Stillwater Christian athletics. Almost overnight the Cougars earned the respect of their local peers and proved they could hold their own against the larger schools.
“That really opened the door for us to compete with other Northwestern A teams,” Shawback said of the Columbia Falls match.
Since 2009 the volleyball team, as well as the boys soccer and girls and boys basketball teams, have been playing tougher competition in the form of Class B and A varsity teams. The volleyball team also plays the local Class AA junior varsity teams. And most notably, the dominating results have continued.
“With a more difficult schedule the girls have really risen to the occasion, and of course the skill level has also risen along with that,” Shawback said.
This season the three-time defending champion Cougars are undefeated, 22-0, with victories over both Glacier and Flathead’s JV teams and Whitefish and Columbia Falls’ varsity squads. Last season the Cougars were 31-1, losing only to Eureka’s varsity team. In 2010, Stillwater was 30-0. In 2009, that monumental year, the team went 27-2, losing only to Eureka and a Great Falls home school team.
“Their kids are extremely competitive and they do a great job,” Thompson said of Stillwater’s athletic teams. “They do a great job of representing that school. And so do their coaches.”
After 15 years, Shawback stepped down as head coach because of work obligations. But his replacement this season, Diane Smith, worked under him for years and is trying to carry on the tradition and work ethic that Shawback instilled in the successful program.
“The tradition I was stepping into is a solid foundation from Dave,” Smith said. “He’s just done a fabulous job with training these girls and training myself.”
This year’s team features four skilled seniors — Danz, Morgan Paolini, Sarah Smith and Samantha Auger. Danz is considered one of the best all-around players in the state at any level, according to many volleyball aficionados. In the past she played outside hitter but this season she’s playing a combination of outside and middle blocker. Her success continues to stand out.
“I think she definitely competes with the top girls in the AA schools, here in the Flathead Valley especially,” Smith said. “She really has her head in the game and does a really good job all around.”
“She could play (at any school size),” Shawback said.
However, in conversation, when asked about succeeding over the last four years, Danz responds with the word most often used in practice.
“The word we use a lot is ‘teamness,’” Danz said.
Ironically, she’s immediately assisted by her teammate Paolini in responding.
“You have to make the team a priority and I think our biggest thing is we play as a unit,” Paolini said. “Unity is huge in volleyball. You can’t play with one person. You have to have all six really connected and on the same page to make it work.”
The four seniors will play their final matches at home in this week’s state tournament. The Cougars’ first match is at 11:30 a.m. They have to win three matches to play in the championship at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Shawback will be there watching from the stands. He wouldn’t miss it for anything.
“The kids at Stillwater and volleyball players, they’re just awesome young individuals,” he said. “We’ve been blessed.”
In the fall of 2009, a scheduling conflict at the last minute eliminated one of Columbia Falls’ opponents. The Wildkats wanted to find a replacement but the chances were slim since the local Class A and Class B schools had full schedules. Hoping to at least salvage a match for the freshman team, John Thompson, the athletic director at the time, contacted Stillwater Christian and asked if the Cougars would be interested.
With a school enrollment of almost 90 students at the time, Stillwater Christian’s varsity athletic teams were used to playing other small schools in the Montana Christian Athletic Association or occasionally Class B and Class A freshman teams.
The Stillwater volleyball team, which is hosting this week’s MCAA state tournament starting Thursday, built itself into a strong program in the MCAA despite playing only 14 games a season on average and fielding fewer than 20 players overall in the early years. The Cougars won seven MCAA state championships between 1993 and 2008. But former head coach Dave Shawback wanted more challenges for his girls; that’s the only way they would keep getting better.
The two varsity teams met in Columbia Falls. Shawback remembers the excitement surrounding Stillwater’s first-ever match against a Class A varsity team.
“All the players and parents were super excited about it,” Shawback said. “(The players) were really mentally prepared with the anticipation of a really competitive volleyball match. In volleyball, that definitely dictates how you play.”
Featuring a talented freshman starter named Jordan Danz, the Cougars stunned Columbia Falls, winning in three sets.
“They played almost flawlessly,” Shawback said.
The victory was a watershed moment for Stillwater Christian athletics. Almost overnight the Cougars earned the respect of their local peers and proved they could hold their own against the larger schools.
“That really opened the door for us to compete with other Northwestern A teams,” Shawback said of the Columbia Falls match.
Since 2009 the volleyball team, as well as the boys soccer and girls and boys basketball teams, have been playing tougher competition in the form of Class B and A varsity teams. The volleyball team also plays the local Class AA junior varsity teams. And most notably, the dominating results have continued.
“With a more difficult schedule the girls have really risen to the occasion, and of course the skill level has also risen along with that,” Shawback said.
This season the three-time defending champion Cougars are undefeated, 22-0, with victories over both Glacier and Flathead’s JV teams and Whitefish and Columbia Falls’ varsity squads. Last season the Cougars were 31-1, losing only to Eureka’s varsity team. In 2010, Stillwater was 30-0. In 2009, that monumental year, the team went 27-2, losing only to Eureka and a Great Falls home school team.
“Their kids are extremely competitive and they do a great job,” Thompson said of Stillwater’s athletic teams. “They do a great job of representing that school. And so do their coaches.”
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Morgan Paolini, left, and Sarah Paolini, right, leap to block a shot from Flathead during their recent meeting at Stillwater Christian School in Kalispell. Lido Vizzutti | Flathead Beacon |
After 15 years, Shawback stepped down as head coach because of work obligations. But his replacement this season, Diane Smith, worked under him for years and is trying to carry on the tradition and work ethic that Shawback instilled in the successful program.
“The tradition I was stepping into is a solid foundation from Dave,” Smith said. “He’s just done a fabulous job with training these girls and training myself.”
This year’s team features four skilled seniors — Danz, Morgan Paolini, Sarah Smith and Samantha Auger. Danz is considered one of the best all-around players in the state at any level, according to many volleyball aficionados. In the past she played outside hitter but this season she’s playing a combination of outside and middle blocker. Her success continues to stand out.
“I think she definitely competes with the top girls in the AA schools, here in the Flathead Valley especially,” Smith said. “She really has her head in the game and does a really good job all around.”
“She could play (at any school size),” Shawback said.
However, in conversation, when asked about succeeding over the last four years, Danz responds with the word most often used in practice.
“The word we use a lot is ‘teamness,’” Danz said.
Ironically, she’s immediately assisted by her teammate Paolini in responding.
“You have to make the team a priority and I think our biggest thing is we play as a unit,” Paolini said. “Unity is huge in volleyball. You can’t play with one person. You have to have all six really connected and on the same page to make it work.”
The four seniors will play their final matches at home in this week’s state tournament. The Cougars’ first match is at 11:30 a.m. They have to win three matches to play in the championship at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Shawback will be there watching from the stands. He wouldn’t miss it for anything.
“The kids at Stillwater and volleyball players, they’re just awesome young individuals,” he said. “We’ve been blessed.”
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