Boys Volleyball Feature Article (2023)
Gavin Barber blocks a shot earlier in the season.
Boys Volleyball Completes Journey, Takes Home State Title
Justin Scott - Sports Reporter
6/11/2023
After a runner-up finish last year, the Lowell Boys Volleyball team finished the job by battling back from a first set loss, beating South Christian 3-1 in the state finals and winning the program’s first state championship.
The Red Arrow team is a part of the growing sport in the state of Michigan, and the culmination of the season happened in early June at Calvin College. The program was started by current Lowell Girls Volleyball head coach Jordan Drake and is currently coached by one of the program's first alumni players, Drew Davidson.
It was the two-seed that took the early lead 25-21 in a battle of one versus two in the state as the South Christian Sailors opened up with the one set lead. It didn't faze the Red Arrows.
“Our goal was to stay level headed and continue to play our game. We knew we were the better team, more experienced, and we just had to break their momentum and get things rolling our way,” senior outside hitter Jacob Davidson said.
At 8-8 in set two, Lowell started to roll off the serve of Mason Wade, where Lowell took advantage of a few Sailor unforced errors to make it 13-8. Setter Max Davidson served for set point which Lowell got on a forced South Christian error to make the sets tied at one-all.
“It was crucial for us to shut down their outside and middle hitters. We worked as a team to make that happen,” said junior outside hitter Gavin Barber.
In the critical third set, South Christian seemed to be in command at 16-13, in a best of five of course, the winner of the third set would only need one more set to finish off the match. Jacob Davidson got a kill followed by a serving ace from his cousin Max. It was part of a 7-1 run that saw Lowell take control of the set. Barber would get the kill to finish off the third set 25-20. Lowell would go on to comfortably win the fourth set, with the winning point bringing the scoreline to 25-21.
"Bringing home the first state title is something I have wanted for the last three years. Our team worked really hard! I don’t think it has set in that we were the first to bring home the gold," Barber concluded.
His teammate Jacob Davidson agreed.
"It was quite the honor being able to lead the team through the ups and downs of our season. With the sport of boy’s volleyball exploding in size, I was most proud of getting publicity for our team and hopefully exciting our community and even kids who might want to play volleyball someday," he concluded.
Additionally, over the last week, Jacob Davidson & Nick Williams each earned 1st Team All-State honors, while Max Davidson & Gavin Barber earned 2nd Team All-State honors.
