NLC Champ Mackinaw City Eyes Bright Future
November 6, 2020
By Tom Spencer
Special for Second Half
Mackinaw City’s Marlie Postula provided nearly perfect serving this fall.
The rest of her Comets volleyball team was indeed perfect in Northern Lakes Conference play. And, you might say they are “set” for the next couple of years. She’s the team’s sole setter, and she’s only a sophomore.
“Marlie is probably the most solid player on the team,” said her coach Rachel Grooters as the Comets entered postseason play this week. “She leads in serve percentage ... believe it or not attack percentage, hitting percentage, passing percentage.
“She’s my leader in all those stats.”
Postula was one of three sophomores on the court nearly every moment this fall for Mackinaw City. Two more sophomores got some varsity experience while playing mostly on the junior varsity team that was perfect in league play as well. None of the sophomores experienced a loss in junior varsity league play as freshmen.
“I know I have a young team,” Grooters said. “I know I have juniors and seniors, but sophomores are pretty much the backbone of my team.”
Grooters had big expectations this year thanks to her five sophomores’ previous winning ways.
“We definitely went into it with the attitude that we were going to get conference,” the veteran coach said. “We wanted that number on the banner.
“We wanted the trophy,” she continued. “And having an undefeated season is icing on the cake.”
Along the way to its perfect NLC season, the Comets were led by the serving of Postula. She was successful in 207 straight serves at one point. She finished regular-season play missing just four serves.
The Comets’ season ended in District Semifinal play Wednesday with a four-set loss to Pickford. They finished the season with a 14-0 league and 21-12 overall record.
With junior outside hitter and captain Raeann Hingston, junior inside hitter Ella House, sophomore outside/inside hitter Larissa Huffman and sophomore middle hitter Madison Smith also expected back next fall, Grooters is already excited about what’s next. She is losing only two seniors – outside/inside hitter Jenna Wiertalla and captain middle hitter Carissa Sroka. Junior inside hitter Olivia Lidy should also be back next fall.
“You know, in a small school like us, you kind of get who comes out,” noted Grooters. “This is who is here. They are all athletes.
“They all want to play,” Grooters continued. “They all want to be here. And, they love competition.”
Mackinaw City was spotless in league play despite a tiny grade 9-12 enrollment of 40 students. Some of the schools in the conference are nearly twice the Comets’ size, one is more than double their size, and a few are similar in enrollment.
Conference championships have been hard to come by for the Comets. They only have three to claim. Grooters was a player on the first Mackinaw City league champ in 2000. A second title was won in 2015. The Comets were unblemished in that run too, but it was only a 10-match league season.
While the Comets’ play is far from the loudest of league teams, they are there to win, Grooters proudly indicated.
“It is funny. I think they’re quiet,” she said. “A lot of teams make more noise. Our girls take it serious. And, they want to win. They’re not going to just stand there and let somebody take the lead.”
Grooters can’t help but think the perfect season was almost taken away by COVID-19. She’s proud of all the schools’ efforts to make the season happen, including keeping the face protection on.
“I was so excited to coach them this year, but I was so nervous with the COVID stuff,” she said. “They wanted to play badly. They were worried they wouldn’t be able to.
“They want to be out on that court,” she continued. “Once we know we could practice and compete a little bit, it all fell into place.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Mackinaw City’s Ella House prepares to serve during a match against Alanson this fall. (Middle) Marlie Postula sets for her hitters; she led the team in serving, hitting and passing percentages this fall. (Photos by Izzy House.)
Battle Creek St. Philip Reaffirms its Place Atop Division 4
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 20, 2021
BATTLE CREEK – The state’s winningest volleyball program is back to doing what it does best – winning consecutive MHSAA Finals.
Battle Creek St. Philip won its second-straight Division 4 volleyball title Saturday, sweeping Indian River Inland Lakes 25-17, 25-12, 25-8 at Kellogg Arena.
"For me, it’s just a whole different aspect now, seeing those little girls up in the stands,” St. Philip senior Brooke Dzwik said. “That was us at one point. They’re going to be the legacy. It’s not us anymore, it’s them. To really win so that they could see means a lot.”
St. Philip now has 22 Finals titles, including a record nine straight from 2007-14. If the win a year ago in a COVID-interrupted season wasn’t enough to prove the Tigers were back, Saturday’s dominant result should more than handle that.
“Last year everyone thought that we didn’t deserve the championship,” St. Philip senior Bailey Fancher said. “This year, there was no COVID (pause), there was nothing stopping us, so we wanted to prove everyone wrong that we were made to win both last year and this year’s state championships.”
St. Philip (40-11-1) entered the postseason ranked No. 3, and defeated No. 2 Athens in the Regional Final and No. 1 Adrian Lenawee Christian in the Quarterfinal just to get to Kellogg. Getting to play the underdog was a role the Tigers relished.
“We were the underdog all last year, too,” said Dzwik, who was one of five starters who returned from last year’s team. “Part of it is the competitive nature in all of us, that we wanted to prove everyone wrong, that we shouldn’t be the underdog.”
They were not the underdog Saturday, however, playing Finals newcomer Inland Lakes, which was coming off its first Regional title since 1995.
Inland Lakes (27-11-11) didn’t seem to be fazed by the moment early on, trading blows with the reigning champions, and even responding to a 4-0 run midway through the first set with a 4-0 run of its own, tying the score at 16. But following a timeout, St. Philip rattled off eight points in a row to take control and put the first set away.
From there, it was all Tigers.
“Our hitting wasn’t as powerful today – I think they got a little nervous and frazzled as things weren’t going their way,” Inland Lakes coach Nicole Moore said. “That’s a solid team that has great hitters that we weren’t adjusting to and getting touches on. That’s been our goal the whole time, and it’s worked most of the time, but today we just weren’t able to get those touches that we needed on those big hitters.”
For the Tigers, keeping the momentum when they got it was important, as St. Philip coach Vicki Groat didn’t want Inland Lakes to build confidence during the match.
“That’s a good team, and watching them on Thursday, there was no intimidation for them,” Groat said. “They were playing relaxed, they had nothing to lose, and they were the underdogs. In this stage, if you have them down, you have to keep the momentum going, keep the pressure on until the very end. I thought we did a good job of that today.”
Dzwik led the St. Philip attack with 14 kills, but Groat was impressed with how setter Rachel Myers spread the ball around throughout the match. Maddie Hoelscher (five kills), Alexis Snyder (five kills), Alex Kersten (four kills) and Makenzee Grimm (four kills) all helped to keep Inland Lakes off balance, and not allow it to focus solely on Dzwik. Kate Doyle led the St. Philip defense with 12 digs.
Natalie Wandrie had five kills and 10 digs to lead Inland Lakes, while Ryann Clancy had 11 digs. Alyssa Byrne finished with eight assists, and Olivia Monthei had four kills.
The disappointing finish didn’t take away from the historic season for the Bulldogs, as Byrne noted, “We played volleyball as long as we could.”
“We talked about before the game, we made this visual where we have this outer ring of people – northern Michigan volleyball, we’re the only people here, right,” Moore said. “We were representing them. We were representing our conference, our region, because not a lot of northern Michigan teams make it down here. We were the smallest school and the farthest school away, and I think we had a lot of blue in the stands, so that was really cool to see.”
PHOTOS (Top) St. Philip’s Makenzee Grimm (8) gets up a block as Inland Lakes’ Olivia Monthei (6) makes a play on the ball. (Middle) The Tigers’ Brooke Dzwik (9) connects, with teammate Baily Fancher (13) nearby. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)