The Gilmour Academy varsity volleyball team succeeded in its season-long quest of defending last year's state title as the Lancers claimed the 2021 OHSAA Division II State Championship with a pair of victories this past weekend.
Gilmour won the championship, its third in program history, with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Roger Bacon High School as the event returned to its traditional home inside Wright State University's Nutter Center.
The Lancers were the only volleyball team across the state's four divisions to repeat as OHSAA champions this season. Additionally, the 2020 and 2021 GA volleyball teams became the first Lancer teams to repeat as state champions, in any sport, since the girls track and field team achieved the feat in 2006-2007.
Kathryn Randorf '22, the reigning Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year as well as a GA career record holder, may have saved her best for last. In her final performance as a Lancer, Randorf's heroic effort, just shy of a triple-double, helped secure GA's second-straight state title.
Randorf posted a match-high 33 kills, exactly half of GA's team total of 66, along with 17 digs and a match-high eight blocks in the championship match.
Ella Jackson '25 set up the vast majority of those kills and finished with a double-double. She posted a match-high 54 assists along with 14 digs. Sabrina Gremm '22 added a double-double in her final GA match and was second on the team with 12 kills and tallied 16 digs.
Roger Bacon got out to a quick start, winning five of the first six points in the match, although Gilmour quickly recovered. Trailing 9-6, the Lancers won six consecutive points—four kills by Randorf and a kill and an ace from Gremm—to take a 12-9 lead. GA would maintain its lead for the rest of the first set and claimed a 25-21 victory to jump out ahead in the match.
The second set was the least competitive of the match as Gilmour won at least four points consecutively on four separate occasions. Holding an 8-7 lead, GA used two Randorf kills and two Spartan errors to surge ahead, 12-7. With its lead standing at 14-11 later in the set, Gilmour again won four straight points to take full control at 18-11. The Lancers would post a 25-14 victory to take a commanding lead in the match.
The third set was very competitive as it featured nine ties and required extra points to determine a winner. With the match tied at 22, Roger Bacon scored back-to-back points to edge into the lead. Gilmour would save four set points before the Spartans used a block to claim a 28-26 victory to extend the match.
Roger Bacon opened up a 13-8 lead in the fourth set and was able to maintain its advantage as the Spartans won the set 25-19. That set the stage for a fifth and decisive set to determine the state champion.
The teams evenly split the first 12 points in the final set, leaving them tied 6-6. Back-to-back points by Roger Bacon gave the Spartans slight momentum, but it would be short-lived. Gilmour responded with a key 6-1 surge, featuring two kills each by Randorf and Anna Rarick '23, to pull ahead 12-9.
The Spartans kept fighting and were able to cut the lead to 13-12. A kill by Rarick followed to set up a match point for Gilmour.
Kayla Channell '25 and Gremm then teamed up on a block to clinch the match as the Lancer bench mobbed their teammates on the court in celebration.
Laney Klika '23 had a team-high 23 digs along with four assists in the win for Gilmour. Brooke Clair '22 was the fourth Lancer to reach double digits in digs with 10.
Channell contributed nine kills and three blocks in the victory while Rarick finished with seven kills and a team-best three aces.
The title is the 16th team state championship, counting all sports, in Gilmour's history. The volleyball program is the third sport at GA to have won back-to-back titles.
Gilmour had advanced to the championship match with a 3-1 victory over Lake Catholic High School in the OHSAA State Semifinals a day earlier.
The Lancers got out of the gates slowly in the semifinal as the Cougars claimed the first set 25-19.
It marked the first time Gilmour had dropped the first set of a match since September. However, the experienced Lancer team produced the best possible response.
Gilmour used 9-0 runs during the second and third sets, and a 9-1 run to start the fourth set, to help it rally from the first-set loss. The Lancers went on to win the next three sets comfortably (25-15, 25-14, 25-11) as Gilmour hit above .400 during each of the final two games of the match.
Randorf led Gilmour on both ends in the semifinal, producing match-high totals in kills (19), digs (20) and blocks (8).
Gremm tallied 16 kills and three blocks against Lake Catholic and Channell posted 11 kills along with four blocks.
Jackson posted another double-double, finishing with 46 assists and 11 digs.
Klika netted 19 digs and a pair of aces while Kelsie Thompson '25 was second on the team with five blocks.
Gilmour volleyball was making its 11th overall appearance in the State Final Four, all of which have come in the past 15 years. The Lancers will seek their fourth consecutive State Final Four appearance in 2022.
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