From Practice to Perfection: Hannan Hawks Chase Another State Title

Winning a state championship in volleyball requires preparing for the moment.

Preparing for the moment when destiny shines down, a team must decide if it’s ready to grasp immortality.   

Such is the approach of Hannan coach Rebekka Bonnaffee, who must know a thing or two about the topic given that she has guided the Hawks to three Division III state championships in the past four years and four state crowns overall in addition to directing St. Louis Catholic in Lake Charles to a Division III championship.

Those totals read as five state championships in 24 seasons as a head coach, coming in 2023, 2021, 2020, and 2018 at Hannan and a 2006 crown at St. Louis Catholic.

“I always coach under the impression that anything can happen at any given moment,’’ said Bonnafee, in her second stint and 15th season overall as Hannan coach. “I know that I’m coaching 15-, 16-, 17- and 18-year-old girls, and anything can happen at any given moment. Yes, we are doing pretty well right now. And if we continue to do well, I think we can go all of the way. But you never know. So I never say never.’’

The veteran Hawks are off to a 6-2 start following a glorious 46-3 season in which Hannan won its final 14 matches, including four of five in the playoffs without losing a single game, not to mention having posted earlier winning streaks of 3, 11 and 19 matches prior to the final 14.

Six different girls with starting experience return to lead the charge following the graduation of 2023’s senior linchpins, setter Sara Kirsch and outside hitter Sophie Bonnaffee, a pair of All-State and All-District selections. Kirsch was a four-year starter at setter and member of all three state champions while Bonnaffee, the daughter of the coach, served as a primary force at the net while earning Louisiana Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Player of the Year honors as a senior along with Division III championship game MVP as a senior and sophomore.

“Sara was our setter the last four years, so that’s a big deal. It’s like losing your quarterback of the last four years,’’ Bonnaffee said. “That’s been a big hole to fill, but my two setters right now have been doing a good job. It’s just a matter of being consistent. My daughter Sophie was an outside hitter who played all the way around and now she’s playing at LSU.

“We just knew that Sara would feed Sophie the ball consistently and Sophie would end rallies. We’ve got people who can do that. It’s just getting to a point where they are consistently doing it.’’

Libero Miranda Holincheck (5-foot-7), outside hitter Mia Phillips (5-10), middle hitter Bailey Bevolo (5-11), right-side hitter Reese Foster (5-9), middle hitter Riley Schubert (5-8) and defensive specialist/outside hitter Avery Lewis (5-7) are the six Hawks with starting experience. Holincheck, Phillips, Foster, and Schubert are seniors while Bevolo and Lewis are juniors. 

Add to that mix junior Lola Soper (5-7) and sophomore Josie Pathoumthong (5-5) as the new setters that Bonnaffee is high on along with senior defensive specialist Brie Dornan (5-7), junior outside hitter Goldie Lowe (5-9) and senior setter/serve specialist Aubrey Bankston (5-6).

Holincheck is a returning All-State and All-District selection while Phillips earned All-District honors.

“I think we have a chance to do really well,’’ Bonnaffee said. “We have to be more consistent right now. We’re not and we need to be. When we play well, we play really, really well. But when we don’t, there’s definitely some holes. For us, I think the big thing is to get to that point where we’re playing at a high level all of the time.

“Last year we got (to the state finals) and we were able to do that (play at a high level). Not that we were perfect by any means, but we were more consistent. So I think this team can get there. And it’s early, obviously. And you don’t want to be perfect early. But I think (achieving) consistency is our biggest thing right now.’’

The Hawks had their schedule last week washed out by the threat and arrival of Hurricane Francine on Wednesday following a competitive showing in the prestigious McGill-Toolen Catholic Cup volleyball tournament staged in Mobile, Alabama.

Hannan returns to action at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Chapelle and then plays host to Parkview Baptist in an important Division III power rating contest at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Covington before coming to New Orleans Saturday to play Mount Carmel (9 a.m.), Teurlings Catholic (noon) and St. Scholastica ( 1 p.m.) in the two-day Sacred Heart Catholic League Tournament.

In Mobile, the Hawks went 4-2 over two days, losing their opener to Mount Carmel, then winning two matches versus St. John Paul (Ala.) and St. Piux X (Ga.) before falling to perennial powerhouse MGill-Toolen in which Hannan won a set after downing the host Yellow Jackets last year.

Hannan then exited this year’s tournament with a victory against Pensacola (Fla.) Catholic followed by an impressive win against Georgia power Blessed Trinity.

“McGill-Toolen is a pretty high-ranked team in the country and we took a set from them, so that was good,’’ Bonnaffee said. “I wish we would have played a little better in the second and third sets to come through. Last year we actually beat McGill-Toolen, so it was fun to take another set from them this year.

“We played great the first set and beat them. We kind of lost it in the second set and then the third set. But, overall, I thought we played pretty well. We played Mount Carmel when we just got there and that’s always a tough game for us for whatever reason. Mount Carmel played great and we didn’t, so they beat us. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good tournament for us. I just wish we could have been more consistent.

“We played really, really well against (Blessed Trinity) and beat them. I think they (Hannan players) felt that when they are playing like that, if we can continue to play like that, we’ll be OK. I think they know if they play like that, they have a chance to go all of the way to the (state tournament).’’

“I think (the McGill-Toolen tournament) just showed us what we could do as a team,’’ Bevolo said. “Those were two of our best games (versus McGill-Toolen and Blessed Trinity) that we’ve played together as a whole. It also showed us what we need to work on in the next few games we have. I think it was really good for us to grow together and play against some really competitive teams.’’

Unlike last season, it likely will take a village for the Hawks to match the heights inspired by the dynamic duo of Kirsch and Bonnaffee in 2023.

“Mia Phillips is probably our best outside hitter and Bailey Bevolo is doing great in the middle,’’ Bonnaffee said. “I think Riley Schubert is going to surprise some people. You have Miranda Holincheck always as a libero.

“My setters are athletic. They are hard-working. They are smart. They’ve done a good job filling in for Sara, who has set for four years and we won three out of four state championships with her. So that’s big shoes to fill.’’

About these Hawks, Bonnaffee said: “Mia (Phillips) is a lefty on the outside, which is not normal, and she jumps well. She’s smart and can read the block. Bailey (Bevolo) is a hard worker and she’s very determined. She wants to end the rally every chance she gets. Miranda (Holincheck) is a leader. She brings her energy and lifts the team up.

“Riley Schubert is a lefty middle who jumps well and is getting better at the game every time she plays. Reese (Foster) for a right-side hitter is dynamic and persistent. Avery Lewis is one of the smartest volleyball players that I’ve ever had. She sees the court well and reads the defense well. Goldie Lowe is a hustler. She hits the ball very hard.

“Josie (Pathoumthong) is just super athletic and super smart and fun to watch. Lola (Soper) is also a very hard worker and just gets better every day. Brie (Dornan) had to sit out about a year and a half because she’s been injured. She has just come back and been a nice little spark for our team (as a defensive specialist). She also is one of the hardest workers that we have and is a hustler. Aubrey (Bankston) has a very tough job to come in and serve. She serves very tough and plays good defense when she’s in there.’’

Holincheck and Bevolo speak more confidently than their coach.

“I think this team has a good chance of going pretty far,’’ Holincheck, the senior libero, said. “We’ve been working hard in the preseason and in this beginning part of the season. We’ve had some good results. We’re super excited. We have a lot of energy coming into this (season). I think this team will do very well this year.

“I know a lot of people were worried because we lost our setter last year and one of our main hitters. But I don’t think they realized how many good hitters we have coming in behind them.

We have a lot of people who return on defense and even our front row has a lot of returners. We have a lot of key pieces.

“We spread the ball a lot. We have a lot of people working together. All of that combines to make a great team. We’re not relying on any one piece or two people. We’re relying on being a team.’’

Defense and serving have been the Hawks’ strengths to date, Bonnaffee said.

“I have been pretty happy with the way our defense has been going,’’ Bonnaffee said. “Again, not that we’re perfect. We have our moments. But the girls have been working really hard in getting balls to their setter and just getting balls up so that we can make a play out of it. So they’re doing pretty well at that.

“Our serving has been pretty tough, so hopefully that can continue. I like our chances with our hitters, too. We’ve got some pretty heavy hitters. But that’s a work in progress for sure. We need to be more consistent up at the net with blocking and hitting and we need to have more consistency in general.’’

Per their coach, the Hawks are preparing for their moment.

“I think we definitely can win state,’’ Bevolo said. “That’s one of our goals. We’re working hard every day and improving as a team and starting to gel together with our new players and our old players. We have some high expectations for ourselves, definitely. We just need to stay consistent and confident through our games. We need to have confidence and go in strong and play the same for the whole game.

“It’s a new team each year, so we definitely don’t see ourselves (as a power) from the beginning. But we definitely want to work toward it throughout the season. It just takes time for us to build up to that.’’

With an emphasis on work.

“We do a lot of technical work that prepares us for the basics of the game,’’ Holincheck said. “We also do a lot of pressure situations to get us ready for in-the-moment kind of things. We, as a team, we like the competition. We get used to it at practice so when it comes to game opportunities we’re not nervous, we’re not freaked out. We’re pretty prepared.”

“People should expect what they always have, a good team coming in. Nothing is really different. We’re just here to play and nobody should underestimate us.’’