St. Clair Seeks South Central Title
After a soul crushing Section loss to the LCWM Knights last season, the St. Clair Lady Cyclones have been determined to learn from past mistakes toward a successful future. Nine seniors will bring a substantial amount of leadership and experience to a team that will have seven returning starters for this Fall 2025 campaign. The Cyclones fared well in 2024 with a 16-8 record and a second place finish in the South Central Conference (8-2).
That defeat to the Knights has carried over into this new season, and there seemed to be a heightened intensity from these Cyclones during an August 19 practice. Even mentioning the LCWM game would have certain players muttering to themselves about that night and then they would react by spiking the ball harder than usual. Senior Brooklin Hinze looks forward to a rematch against the Knights, going so far as to circle the date of the team’s first matchup against them, September 16, and declare it as “payback time.”
Entering their fifth year as Head Coaches, Tyler and Ashley Sander knew that avenging a bitter loss would be at the forefront of their team’s minds heading into this new season. Before the very first practice of this season, the team rewatched that match against LCWM as a means of motivation. The Sanders took pride in the team’s effort in that playoff match, stating it was the “best we had played as a team” however, the Cyclones struggled to close out the match, and would lose in five sets. Failure can be a powerful agent toward growth, and the Sanders look to use the lessons learned from last year to motivate their team, “This is a sport where if you want something, you have to want it. We want to enter the year with an ‘all-in’ mentality and fight for every point, and we’re determined to do just that.”
That commitment to maximum effort is meant to keep players accountable, and that very instance occurred during a “rhythm” drill…essentially a continuous point between two teams. This first go-around would be a struggle as these Lady Cyclones failed to communicate with one another, set passes were mistimed and sloppy, and there just didn’t seem to be much urgency to play under the ball. The Sanders were quick to pause the drill and emphasize the importance of reacting to the ball, “If we wait for the ball, we will never earn points that way…now is not the time to be lazy.” As punishment, the players would take several laps around the gym, complete a set of mountain climbers, and do jumping jacks for 60 seconds. That seemed to wake these Cyclones up as they performed much better during the re-run of the “rhythm” drill.
Nine seniors (Brooklin Hinze, Aubree Mathiowetz, Braxton Breezee, Aubrey Will, Brooklyn Meng, Brynn Hansen, Grace Ireland, Paige St. Peter and Valerie Quast) will serve as the core for this team, but a few key returning starters will definitely make an impact for St. Clair. Sophomore Payton Blount and junior Ashlyn DeMartini were a dynamic duo on the attack last season and these two appear to have not skipped a beat as they ripped shots down the line.
The 2025 Fall campaign may have begun before the official school year did, but these Lady Cyclones are already etching their names into the history books. Senior Brooklyn Meng has been a Swiss-Army knife for her team with stellar defense, great teamwork, and the occasional kill, but her vision on the court has helped her become an assist setting machine. She scored her 1000th career assist in the Cyclone’s season opener against the MCW Mavericks (August 28) which makes her the fourth Cyclone to ever achieve that mark. Unfortunately, the Cyclones would drop the match 3-1, but the team showed conviction throughout each set and refused to go down quietly. A testament to their much larger goal.
