McDONALD — At McDonald, it seems year in and year out, the athletic programs are always successful and doing well as just this past year the girl’s basketball team and the boy’s track team were state runner-ups in their respective divisions.

Three years ago, McDonald decided to start up a volleyball program.

Athletic Director Josh Krumpak wanted to give the girls more options.

To say it’s been a success, might be an understatement as the Blue Devils went 8-15 in their first year, then 12-12 the following year, to 16-4 this season.

The first two years of the program, Amy Harrison (Bundy), led the team. Harrison was a standout at Mineral Ridge where she was a member of the 1995 Rams team that went 25-2 losing to St. Henry in the Division IV state semifinal.

Harrison left before this season started to take over the girls basketball program at her alma mater.

Replacing her was Mike Klockner, who assisted Harrison the past two years as he also coaches at Thunder Volleyball Club.

“She did what she needed to do,” Klockner added. “I was with her and had an in with the program. It made it a little bit easier transition for me since I was already part of the program. I definitely learned a lot from her. I was glad to be helping her the last few years, which made the transition a lot easier.”

McDonald only has three seniors on the roster (Brielle Robinson, Mikki Williams, and Madison Srock) so the success for this team only seems to be beginning.

“They’ve done a great job leading,” Klockner said. “We got some very athletic, younger players so it’s kind of a nice mix. We’ve got our seniors that have been with us since the beginning. Then we got the younger players who are very athletic and follow their example. It’s kind of a nice mix of experience with upper class girls and then the younger ones coming up.”

The Blue Devils did as well as they have because of the athletes enriched in the program as freshman Gianna Costantino (226 kills) and junior Maria Rasile (174) have led a strong defensive unit.

“At McDonald, there’s always athletes,” Klockner said. “Granted, we knew they would be a little bit behind what the skills of volleyball are, but we knew they would be able to pick up on it really quick because they’re athletic. That’s the progression of the three seasons.

“That’s kind of being shown here is that they’ve picked up really fast. We had some growing pains in the beginning but, the more we play the more experience we get. They pick up on things really quick and then it’s been neat to see our progression these last few years.”

Defense is something the Blue Devils have prided themselves on with four players having over 200 digs: Sheryaliz Bonilla (410), Megan Klockner (297), Costantino (250), and Rasile (234).

Megan Klockner and Rasile have also added 1,344 and 1,045 assists respectively.

“We’ve kind of stressed that this year, defense,” Klockner said. “We want to be very fundamentally sound defensively. Not making errors. That’s something we really stress. We also stressed serving, being consistent with our serving and serve receive so I guess a little bit of everything, but mostly we’ve really stressed the defense.”

Klockner talked about how all the players have defined roles on the team.

Maria and Megan are setters on the team. They’re both opposite hitters for McDonald.

“Maria has been a great setter but also does really well with hitting,” Klockner said, “Megan setting in the defense with digs. Gianna is an outstanding outside hitter with kills.”

Reagan Seidel is also an outside hitter for McDonald who Iines up in the back row with Bonilla.

“She’s a great back row player,” Klockner said. “She is all over the court getting digs. Megan Zajack comes in for the back row, and does a great job back there as well. All six to seven players have their roles. They do a really good job of fulfilling their role as a team. We’ve really come along during the season playing as a team, and focusing on the roles each player has. They are doing a really great job with that.”

The Blue Devils will look to continue their season as they meet the Newton Falls Tigers in their Division IV sectional final.

McDonald comes in as the fourth seed in their bracket and will look to pick up their second ever tournament victory after beating Mathews in five sets in a sectional semifinal a year ago.

“They’ve had great teams in the past,” Klockner said. “I looked at her schedule and they play a very competitive schedule. We’re going to have to be ready to play. It’s gonna be a challenge. We have to be on top of our game, because like I said they play some tough teams out there ,so we’re gonna have to be ready for them.”