The fall season was a goldmine for the Lady Wildcats. On Saturday, November 3, the varsity volleyball team cruised to its first state championship in school history. This was following a historic undefeated season from the golf team, who secured their second straight state championship a couple of weeks earlier.

Westminster’s lady golf team had been a powerhouse recently. The team had not lost a match in two years. In 2011, they won the state championship by a record ninety-one strokes and dominated the competition all year. This year’s repeat possibly cemented their claim as the most dominating high school golf team in Missouri’s history.

Although some predicted this year’s State Championships could pose a threat to the girls undefeated run, they had no problem crushing those doubts. The Lady Wildcats carded an incredible 669, blowing away second place Villa Duchesne by fifty-two strokes.

Brooke Cusumano, senior, and Jordan Wolf, junior, placed first and second in the tournament with a 154 and 157, respectively. This has been the theme of the year, as Wolf and Cusumano have a combined sixteen medals between them. This was Cusumano’s second state championship in a row, something that had never been done before.

“It’s amazing just to be the champion once, so to say that I’m a two-time champion, I just feel blessed,” said Cusumano in an interview with Stltoday. She will be attending golf powerhouse Southern Illinois University Carbondale next year.

Although she only finished three shots behind, Wolf was still thinking she could have played better.

“I played my two worst rounds of the year at state and am really disappointed in myself,” said Wolf.

Wolf should not be upset about her performance this year. As a junior, she won eleven individual medals, tied for the most in Missouri. Her best score of the year, 71, was the second lowest of any other girl in the state. Ciara Younger, senior, Megan McDaniel, sopohomore, and McKenna Montgomery, freshman, rounded out the Wildcats’ tournament. None of them finished below thirtieth.

Montgomery is especially promising. As a freshman, she placed 14th in the championship. It’s likely that she could be the next Cusumano or Wolf with her current numbers.

It wasn’t all about the golf though.

“The most special thing about this year was becoming even better friends with Brooke. That girl’s like my sister, and we had a ton of fun this year,” said Younger.

The Wildcats’ two-year run was impressive from start to finish. Not only did they repeat this year, but they added victories in five other tournaments and won their matches by an average of 29 strokes.

Next year, Cusumano and Younger leave for college. Those gaps will not be easy to fill. Yet Wolf remains confident.

“I have no doubt we can do it again next year,” said Wolf.

The Lady Wildcats volleyball team will be looking to follow the golf team’s example next year. With no state championships on their resume, this year’s stacked senior class was aiming to find their way to the podium. They capped off a 29-6-2 season by sweeping Pleasant Hill in the finals of the state tournament.

In the semifinals on Friday, Westminster put itself in a jam early by splitting sets with Perryville. But after that early hiccup, the squad buckled down and went 4-0 the rest of the day to advance to the finals. Erin Bognar, senior, and Hannah Stipanovich, junior, led the way with 32 kills each in the six matches.

The following day, Westminster played Pleasant Hills again after beating them twice in the semis. After winning the first set 25-16, the Wildcats found themselves down 14-8 in the second.

“We all stayed calm and we trusted each other that we could make the comeback and win it in two games,” said Sadie Stipanovich, senior.

The girls crafted a dominating 16-5 run and went on to win 25-22.

Again, Bognar was the standout, as she had been all year. She led the way with a match-high 11 kills. This added to her team high 310 kills on the year.

“It’s just surreal. We’ve wanted it so much. We’ve been so close and finally we have it,” said Bognar in an Stltoday interview. Next year, she will be playing Division I volleyball at Samford University.

Both Stipanovichs were also essential in the victory. The sisters manned the net and kept the Chicks from Pleasant Hill honest. Their older sister, Kelli, was the star of the 2007 squad.

“It’s just like amazing, it feels so cool to follow in Kelli’s footsteps,” said Hannah in her Stltoday interview.

In the school’s first thirty years of existence, Westminster did not win a single team state championship. Since 2009, they have taken two baseball championships, two ladies golf, one mens golf, and now another trophy in volleyball.