Inductees

Packed gymnasiums. Numerous banners hanging from the rafters. And high-fives when out and about in the community.

How inspiring. Which is exactly the way former players say it’s like competing for the Winona High School Volleyball Program.

Said 2014 graduate Rachel Holthaus, “I’m just grateful to be part of a community that pulls together for our volleyball program.”

Despite being tucked away in the Mark Twain National Forest in the southern part of the state, the Wildcats have certainly put their community on the state sports map. Which is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct the Winona High School Volleyball Program with the Class of 2020.

Since the fall of 2000, Winona has advanced to 14 Final Fours, winning five Class 1 state championships (2001, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014). State runner-up finishes came in 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2009. They placed third in 2004 and 2017, while the teams of 2003, 2005 and 2015 placed fourth. The 2002 and 2003 teams competed in Class 2.

Before the arrival of coach Francie McBride (MSHOF 2020) arrived in 1997, winning had been hard to come by for Winona dating back to 1945. Now the program counts 27 All-State players.

The secret to success? Call it a combination of playing solid fundamentals as well as an offseason strategy: a Junior Olympic program, a summer league as well as an intense fitness program, which included players meeting at McBride’s home and running a mile down a dirt road and back – timed, of course.

“Whenever I drive down a dirt road now,” 2013 graduate Nola McAfee joked, “I get a little nauseous.”

Credit players of the late 1990s for starting the turnaround. The 1997 team finished 8-18 but hung in there, helping to lay the groundwork. The next season resulted in an 18-8 finish, followed by a district title and then a state runner-up in 2000.

“(In 1999) Coach Francie McBride, Marci Johnson Adams and I travelled to watch the Final Four,” said Adeana McAfee Brewer, a 2002 graduate. “That experience made us incredibly hungry to reach the Final Four the following year with hopes to win in all before we graduated.”

Said Adams, a 2001 graduate, “I can say with certainty that none of us, including Francie, had any idea we were writing the first chapter of what was soon to be an amazing book.”

The 2001 state championship team beat New Haven, exacting revenge from the prior year’s state championship match. The team finished 35-4.

After the 2005 team placed third, “I remember the juniors went to Francie and said, ‘Next year, it won’t be like this,” said Beth Wakefield Fears, a 2007 graduate.

“I was like, ‘OK,’” McBride said. “But after the first day of practice (in 2006), I knew things would be different.”

The 2006 team beat Lockwood in the sectionals in what many believed was the unofficial state championship match.

The 2012 team kick-started a three-year state championship run, which included 2013 graduates Nola McAfee and Erika Chitwood Orchard along with Holthaus, a 6-foot-1 hitter and 2014 graduate.

In 2012, Winona beat 32-0 Valle Catholic in a sectional before going on to finish 30-7-1.

“In 2012, we had some great seniors and leaders,” Orchard said. “Everyone made up their minds that was the year. We weren’t going to do anything less.”

The 2013 team was almost eliminated in the sectionals, trailing Valle Catholic (31-1) in the second set, 24-17.

McAfee instead rallied the troops.

“Nola was in my face, saying, ‘Get yourself together,’” Orchard said.

“After that,” McAfee said, laughing, “we were setting Rachel over and over and she kept putting it over and over.’”

“That was probably the biggest game of my career,” McBride said. “That was a program win.”

It was a total team effort in 2014. Holthaus, who later played for NCAA Division I Murray State University, had a state-record 615 kills that season, including a record 36 in the championship match. McBride had moved her to the back row with Abigail Hough as the setter. That meant Holthaus’ kill attempts, by rule, had to start from behind the 10-foot line.

For many Wildcats, the teams that came before them influenced hundreds of young girls, who still talk about state tournament send-offs.

“It just gives you so much pride,” McAfee said. “Playing for Winona and Francie, it helped us get to where we wanted to be on the volleyball court but also prepared us for later in life.”