Brown, Brines End Cadillac Careers Among School, State's All-Time Elite
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 28, 2023
Macy Brown in 2020 and Renee Brines in 2021 completed two of the most prolific careers for one of the state’s most consistently-successful programs at Cadillac.
Brown’s 962 kills in 2020 rank fourth for one season, and her 2,349 over four seasons and 553 games rank 11th on that career list. Brines 4,295 assists over 561 games and four seasons rank ninth, and she made aces lists with 119 as a senior and 324 for her career.
Brown is playing at University of New Haven in Connecticut, and Brines is playing at Northwood.
See below for more recent additions to the volleyball record book.
Volleyball
Evelyn Karamon made her career-high assists match count as a senior in 2021. She put up 48 in Allen Park Inter-City Baptist’s five-set win over Ubly in a Division 4 Quarterfinal as the team advanced to the Semifinals for the first time.
Corrie Wisser capped her Hopkins career last fall with a series of record book-worthy achievements, including two that made career lists. She was added for 3,184 assists and 400 aces both over four seasons and 479 games, and with the aces tying for 12th-most all-time. She also made the list twice for 10 aces in a match and twice for single-season aces including a high of 143 as a junior. She has signed with Ferris State.
Fenton’s Eva Long earned her first record book entry last fall with 12 aces in a three-set match against Holly on Sept. 15. She will be a sophomore this upcoming season.
Despite a tough five-set loss to Novi, Brighton’s Abby Mainka enjoyed a career night Sept. 13 when she had 32 kills to make the record book. She’ll be a senior this school year.
Three Rivers’ Miley Southland reached the record book in just her first season of high school. The then-freshman posted 47 assists in a five-set comeback win over Edwardsburg last Aug. 31.
Gianna Sager picked the perfect night for a record book-worthy performance during her junior season at Utica Ford, as she set 63 assists in a five-game 2021 District Semifinal win over Sterling Heights Stevenson. Those assists are tied for ninth for one match, and Ford went on to win its District title.
Recent Boyne City grad Morgan Deming capped her career last fall with two of the most impressive performances, with her 52 kills Nov. 2 against Kingsley third-most in MHSAA history and her 44 kills the next day against Cheboygan tied for seventh on the list. She also made the single-season kills list with 606 over 117 games. Teammate Ava Tarsi made the single-match assists list twice with 68 against Kingsley and 65 against Boyne City. Deming has signed with Lake Superior State, and Tarsi will be a senior this season.
Saginaw Swan Valley then-junior Marli Robinson also joined the single-match assists list, posting 46 in her team’s Division 2 Regional Semifinal against Frankenmuth on Nov. 8.
Nearly two decades later, Ashlee Mosley was added for two performances while a senior at North Adams Jerome in 2005-06. She made the single-match blocks list with 11 in a five-set match against Camden-Frontier, then finished her high school career with 17 against Adrian Lenawee Christian that March 4 in postseason play. The latter remain tied for fourth on the list.
Despite playing an abbreviated senior season in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, Farmington Hills Mercy’s Julia Bishop finished that fall with a few more than 1,000 assists – and a four-season career total of 5,575 assists, good for third all-time and coming in 521 games despite playing only 95 as a senior. Bishop plays at Michigan State.
Mt. Morris’ run to the Division 2 Quarterfinals last fall was boosted in part by a strong 1-2 punch of setter Alisiya Boedecker and hitter Blair Wilson. Boedecker, then a sophomore, was added to the record book five times including with a high of 61 assists in a match against Clio, 1,389 assists over 159 games for the season and 2,595 assists for her career after just two years of high school. Wilson, then a senior, was added five times including for 17 aces in a three-set match (tied for 10th all-time), 42 kills in that Clio match (tied for 11th), 615 kills for the season and 2,128 for her four-year career. Additionally, then-freshman Destany Clymer was added for 140 aces last season and then-sophomore Callie Quackenbush for 121, as well as single-game ace totals.
Birch Run’s Kalliann Cook capped her four-year varsity career in the fall with 427 aces – 10th-most in MHSAA rally-scoring history. She made the single-season list with 121 as a freshman and 127 as a junior. She’s signed with Austin Peay State.
PHOTO Cadillac's Macy Brown (6) rises above the net during the 2020 Division 2 Semifinals.
Marian Avenges Season's Lone Loss in Clinching 3rd-Straight Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2022
BATTLE CREEK – Izzy Busignani spent most of the Division 1 Volleyball Final on Saturday smashing the ball through the court at Kellogg Arena.
But when it came time to close out Bloomfield Hills Marian’s third straight title, the sophomore went with finesse.
“I saw a triple block in front of me, and I saw that the defense was back on their heels, so I knew that if I tipped it short, it would either be out of system or it would go straight down,” Busignani said. “I was just kind of watching it and waiting to see what the result was.”
Busignani’s 27th kill on the day was a tip over the block that the Northville back line couldn’t control, ending a 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-11 victory for Marian.
The win avenged top-ranked Marian’s only loss of the season, and gave the program its fifth Finals title.
“The biggest thing we talked about is that this is our home court,” Marian coach Mayssa Cook said. “Yes, we were the home team on the scoreboard, but we’ve been here now, our third year in a row, so this is our home court, 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.”
That experience came through in the third set, when Northville (47-4) looked to be in command, taking a 19-12 lead. The Kalamazoo Christian student section – waiting for its team to play in the Division 3 Final – had even joined the smaller group of students from Northville to put some more energy behind the Mustangs.
But Marian (49-1) got its own boost from the Pewamo-Westphalia students section, and rattled off seven straight points – six on the serve of senior Lauren Heming – to put Northville on its heels. Not long after, a pair of kills from Busignani closed out a 25-22 set and gave Marian a 2-1 lead.
“That’s not the first time that’s happened,” Marian senior setter Ava Sarafa said of the student section invasions. “Last year we were staying at the same hotel and we had multiple schools come and watch us from the stands. I thought the Marian students did a really good job of being loud, but adding that student section on both sides upped the amount of momentum that each team had. It didn’t increase the pressure, but it also just lightens the vibe and makes you really pumped up. It also fueled us a lot, having that extra support on our side.”
From there, Marian would roll, dominating the fourth set on its way to the title.
“I think they got mad,” Northville coach Sarah Lindstrom said of Marian. “A team like that, when they’re angry, is a scary team. You just kind of saw them realize, ‘We’re not going to let Northville do this to us.’ That’s at least how it felt for us. You have to give kudos to Mayssa for controlling their emotion and realizing a team that can be down to a team as good as mine, to get that many points and come back, you have to give credit to them.”
Busignani’s 27 kills led the Marian attack, and she also added 20 digs, tied for the team lead with Heming, who added four aces. Schomer added 14 kills and 17 digs, while Sarafa had 45 assists and 10 digs, and Molly Banta had 14 digs and three aces.
“Kids that don’t normally make spectacular digs and defensive plays were making them,” Cook said. “It was so beautiful to finally see us play the kind of defense – and I won’t name what schools – but there’s many times this season I said, ‘So and so plays defense like that,’ or ‘Their program is playing defense consistently point for point, there’s no reason we’re not, other than we’re choosing not to.’ It was so beautiful to see all our hitters be huge contributors in set 3 and 4, and all our defenders be contributors. Every kid went on a serving run. More than any year, this has felt like a true team effort.”
The Marian defense struggled to solve Northville star hitter Abby Reck early in the match, and she still managed to finish with 21 kills. But Marian eventually found a way.
“They started scrapping, they got a closed block,” Reck said. “We were out of system a lot. They started serving super aggressive, so our pass faltered a little bit. As soon as that happened, they can set up and it’s pretty hard to hit around. They’re a great team.”
Reck added 19 digs and three aces for Northville, which was making its first Finals appearance. Avry Nelson had 12 kills and three blocks, Taryn Rice had 20 digs, and Greta McKee and Ashlee Gnau each had 13.
PHOTOS (Top) Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Mckenzie Swanson (5) and Izzy Busignani (16) put up a block during the Mustangs’ Division 1 championship match win Saturday. (Middle) Northville’s Abby Reck (17) sends a kill attempt at Swanson and Ella Schomer (12). (Below) Marian celebrates its third-straight Finals victory.