Michigan high school volleyball finals: Birmingham Marian retains Division 1 title

BATTLE CREEK — Birmingham Marian, No. 1 in the state, shook off dropping the opening set to roll past No. 2 Northville and win its third consecutive Division 1 volleyball state championship on Saturday afternoon at Kellogg Arena, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-11.

“The biggest thing we talked about is, this is our home court," said Marian coach Mayssa Cook. “We’ve been here now our third year in a row ... and we knew we had that advantage. We had the experience of playing on this stage, in this gym. We know the way it smells, it looks, it feels, all that stuff.

“We love pressure, we crave it we want it. And something about that, it was a spark and I saw the fire in their eyes, and I knew we were going to get it done. The way that got turned around and took over the rest of the match, was every coaches’ dream.”

This final featured Marian stars and Miss Volleyball finalists Ava Sarafa (Kentucky) and Ella Schomer (Wofford) against Northville’s Abby Reck (Northeastern), another Miss Volleyball finalist. Marian’s only loss this season was to Northville, when Schomer was out with an injury.

Marian (49-1) had 57 kills, led by Izzy Busignani's 27. Reck had 21 for Northville (47-4).

“I think having a lot of players on their team that have been here before — the crowd, the noises, the sound — it’s hard when you’ve never experienced that,” said Northville coach Sarah Lindstrom. “I am proud of the girls for pushing through, coming out and taking that first set. I think that was the set that was scariest for all of us, because we knew that they had done this multiple times before. We came out strong and I could not be more proud.”

Marian seemed to really take this game personally, not only due to the regular season loss to Northville but so much chatter in the volleyball community that they couldn’t do it three years in a row.

“Kids that don’t normally make spectacular digs and defensive plays were making them, and it was so beautiful to finally see us play the kind of defense, “Cook said about the champs. “More than any other year, this has felt like a true, team effort. It was beautiful to watch."

"Nobody knows this about me, but every single national anthem, I pray,” Cook added. “And what I prayed for tonight was that these seniors play with the kind of heart, conviction, confidence, just to have that peace and wisdom about this last match being their best match ever.”

Division 2

No. 2 North Branch handled a very game Cadillac squad in the Division 2 final, winning in straight sets, 31-29, 25-18, 25-17, to secure its fourth volleyball state crown and first since 2016.

“I don’t think we were really prepared for what they did,” North Branch setter Adrienne Greschaw said about Cadillac in the closely-contested opening set. “We haven’t played that kind of volleyball in a while. Recently the games have been set, hit and dig, and that one was more like you didn’t know where it was coming over the net. But eventually we realized what had to happen. They were very unpredictable on what they were going to send over the net.”

Cadillac (34-11-4) came in as an honorable mention team in the state rankings. It also came into the final four for the third time in the last six years, but had never advanced to the finals before. That changed by beating sub-.500 Dearborn Divine Child in the semifinals.

“Yes, that first set, we kind of gave that one away,” said Cadillac head coach Michelle Brines. “But North Branch is never fully away. They came back from all those points down. We had several set (winning) points and if we could have gotten those set points, maybe things would have turned out differently.

“It did seem like we started to get tired about halfway thought the match,” she added. “You just have to be so hyper-focused when you play a team like that. So, I think that did happen to be honest.”

Aubree Deshetsky led North Branch (53-7) with 13 kills while Greschaw had 45 assists.

Cadillac’s top hitter was Carissa Musta with 16 kills.

Division 3

Pewamo-Westphalia’s Dani Pohl gave credit to the timing of the Kellogg Arena public address music director for turning around the team’s fate on the way to it’s first ever Division 3 title.

Coming off a third-set loss and potential momentum shift to Kalamazoo Christian, the "Cupid Shuffle" came blaring through the arena speakers during the break.

“Our team has a tradition with the 'Cupid Shuffle,'" said P-W’s Dani Pohl. “It’s always on our playlist ... and we always dance to it. Before the song even came on, we talked about needing to play loose and have fun – and then the song came on and we were like, ‘OK, this is a sign, this is our set, we’re going to get this done in four’ ... and I think the dance just really lightened things up.”

The Pirates played loose and won the fourth set, 25-17, the same winning score as the first set, to ultimately win the state title — the program’s first.

Pohl had 10 kills, but teammate Saige Martin led with 13. Holland DeVries led Christian with 17 kills.

“Going into this year and over the summer I knew we were going to be very good this year,” said P-W coach Jon Thelen. “But how good; we just proved it today against a very good team.

“The girls regrouped and overcame,” he added about the dropped third set. “We didn’t let the moment get too big and we took care of business to win our school’s first (volleyball) state championship.”

Division 4

It looked like all was lost for Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.

Down two sets to Athens, which hadn’t lost a single set the entire postseason tournament, the Irish came back from a third-set deficit to win it, 25-23, then take the fourth set, 27-25, to set up a fifth and defining set for the Division 4 state championship.

Sacred Heart won that one too, 15-11, to earn the state volleyball title. Neither program had played in a volleyball state final before. And it was the first time Sacred Heart played a fifth set all season.

“This is unbelievable; you guys showed so much grit, and resiliency and comeback,” Sacred Heart coach Krista Davis said were her remarks to her team leaders. “You guys played out of your mind. I’m so proud of my team."

“I don’t really know what got us in the first two sets. It’s all a blur to me at this moment. I think we had some hitting errors. Their offense was fabulous. They gave us everything we could absolutely handle.

“We had our back against the wall,” Davis added about the third set. "But this team all year, they believed. They just have a lot of grit, they just keep grinding away, point by point. We’re just going to chunk it a little bit at a time and just hang in there and make it competitive.”

Athens (34-13-2) had 66 team kills in the game. Kylie Quist led Athens with 20, Jocelyn Paul and Piper Porter added 18 and 17, respectively. Sacred Heart (44-7-6) was paced by Lillie Laney with 19.

“Sacred Heart was very aggressive at the net, and it kind of threw us off a little bit with our game," Athens coach Jacy Cole said about that third set. "I’m not disappointed that it had to go five. We said that it was going to be a battle. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and it shouldn’t be easy at the state finals.

“They did the right things at the right time and got the outcome.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan high school volleyball finals: Birmingham Marian retains