by DAVE FACINOLI
There weren't any postseason tournament championships won like in recent seasons, yet the 2025 girls volleyball campaign still was significantly successful for the Bishop O'Connell Knights. O'Connell finished with a 22-3 overall record and advanced as far as the semifinals in both the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) and the VISAA Division I postseason tournaments.
Had standout freshman hitter and setter Carolyn Maria not missed the postseason with a broken left thumb, longtime O'Connell coach Mehdi El Alaoui believes the Knights could have repeated both championships. Maria was a first-team all-WCAC selection, amassing 263 assists, 226 kills, 114 digs and 59 aces this fall. She also made first-team all-state.
"The players did and tried their best without Carolyn, but she was very hard to replace," said El Alaoui, in his 14th season as the Knights' head coach. "Her play was a big factor for us. Without her we didn't have time to adjust to having a different lineup and rotations."
In addition, sophomore Grace Gatti and junior Gracie Davig missed the tournaments as well with injuries. "If all were healthy we had a good chance to win both again," El Alaoui said. "But it was still a good season."
The Knights won their first 18 matches of the 2025 season, including the first nine by 3-0 scores. That gave the team a two-season 28-match winning streak. O'Connell was the second seed in both the 2025 conference and state tournaments. The Knights lost in close matches in the semifinals in each to the eventual champions, the St. Paul VI Catholic Panthers in the WCAC and the Flint Hill Huskies in the state.
"Our expectations this season were to win both championships again," El Alaoui said.
The Knights finished 1-1 in each competition, topping St. Catherine's of Richmond for their state-tournament win and Good Counsel in a WCAC first-round win. O'Connell defeated both Paul VI and Flint in regular-season matches. Also during regular-season play this fall, O'Connell finished 12-1 in the WCAC to earn the second-seed in the tournament. Its lone loss was to top-seed Holy Cross in a very close 3-1 loss.
The Knights were led this season by WCAC Player of the Year and first-team all-state selection Macie Murray. The junior, who will play college volleyball at James Madison University, led O'Connell with 326 kills to go with 177 digs, 82 aces and 27 blocks. Murray also was chosen first-team all-state.
Junior Olivia Boggs was O'Connell's other first-team all-WCAC player. She had 154 kills and 37 blocks and was chosen second-team all-state.
Chosen second team all-WCAC were senior Ellyson Miller and sophomore Natalie Hobson. Miller amassed 110 kills with 62 digs. Hobson tallied 468 assists, 141 digs and 72 aces.
Selected honorable mention were junior Caroline Semko and freshman Lillian Battcock. Semko totaled 237 digs and 33 assists. Battcock had 37 blocks.
Sophomore Cayla Sawyers with 92 digs was another top player for O'Connell.
Hobson had 37 assists in the state semifinal match against St. Catherine's, with Murray having 26 kills. She had 10 kills in the state semifinal, with Sawyers having six kills and Hobson 17 assists. Other contributing O'Connell players during the 2025 season were freshman Abigail Battcock, sophomore Violet Johnson, junior Olivia Montesano and seniors Sofie Giannelli and Natalie Lyle.
As a team, O'Connell tallied 916 kills, 863 digs and 343 aces.
"We had a lot of young players so we should be strong again next season," El Alaoui said.
As the Knights' coach, “Coach Mehdi” has led O'Connell to three WCAC tournament championships and two state titles, with multiple runner-up finishes in each. He has built the team into a perennial top contender in conference and state tournaments. This season the O'Connell junior varsity volleyball team was 18-0 and the freshman squad, 9-1. There were 85 players who tried out for the three teams. Only some 30 tried out for just varsity and junior varsity teams his first season. A freshman team was added later.
Coach Mehdi now has 322 career victories as a head coach, including 312 at O'Connell. Prior to O'Connell, he was the head coach for one season at Archbishop Carroll High School.