RICHLAND, MI – The last time Byron Center reached the girls volleyball state semifinals, the Bulldogs were a Class C school of 473 students competing against teams like Rogers City and Holton as part of an eight-team playoff.

A lot has changed since 1993, but the Bulldogs are happy to find themselves back in a similar spot 32 years later.

Byron Center, now with a robust enrollment of 1,369 students, secured its first state semifinal appearance in more than three decades with a 3-0 win over Ann Arbor Skyline in Tuesday’s Division 1 quarterfinal at Gull Lake High School.

PHOTOS: See our gallery from the D1 quarterfinal between Byron Center and Skyline

“We knew that a regional hadn’t been won in 32 years, and we looked at that banner a lot,” Byron Center coach Missy Ritz-Johnson said. “

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