D1 Finals Recap: Locked-in Marian sweeps Lowell for the title

<p>Playing in honor of their athletic director that passed away on Thursday evening, the Marian volleyball team put forth one of their best efforts of the season at an opportune time.</p> <p>The Mustangs took it to Lowell in Saturday’s Division 1 state championship, winning by scores 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 to earn its first title since 2010.</p> <p>“Going into today there was just a calmness. When we were practicing across the street, there was just something different,” Marian coach Mayssa Cook said of the win. “Every kid was calm, relaxed. I’m happy that we played our game (Saturday). We played our game. They had fun the entire time. They were relaxed, having fun the entire time, playing together as a team.”</p> <p>Playing their game meant being aggressive from the service line and bringing the power at the net.</p> <p>As a team, Marian hit .358 in the championship, led by an impressive .481 hitting percentage from junior outside hitter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="24846" first="Ava" last="Brizard"]</strong>. Brizard finished with a match-high 29 kills with just four attack errors.</p> <p>“I think this whole season has been about resilience. We just dealt with all the challenges that came along the way this season, so to get here to Battle Creek and win the whole thing and play like we did, play so amazing, it just feels like all of our hard work paid off,” Brizard said.</p> <p>From the service line, the Mustangs had seven aces over the three sets and kept Lowell on their heels.</p> <p>“Marian really came at us today. They applied a lot of service pressure. They got us out-of-system a lot and that hurt us. Congrats to them. They are a phenomenal team,” Lowell coach Jordan Drake said.</p> <p>Despite not having a senior on the roster, Marian played with a lot of poise throughout the postseason. The growth of their young talent really showed in the final.</p> [caption id="attachment_126638" align="alignright" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-126638" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2021/01/Marian-vs-Lowell-Volleyball-14-300x290.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="290" /> [player_tooltip player_id="66328" first="Ava" last="Sarafa"][/caption] <p>Setter <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="66328" first="Ava" last="Sarafa"] </strong>was at her best, dishing out 39 assists and eight digs in the win. She also had a pair of aces. Sarafa kept the offensive running smoothly and knew when to mix up the hitters.</p> <p>Sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="66305" first="Lauren" last="Heming"] </strong>had 15 digs and six assists in the win. She was challenged by great hitters over the two matches in Battle Creek, but learned from her mistakes and came back stronger each time.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="66330" first="Ella" last="Schomer"]</strong>, another sophomore, recorded eight kills and 11 digs.</p> <p>Even in a tough outing for Lowell, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="14192" first="Jenna" last="Reitsma"] </strong>wrapped up her prep career playing well. With all the attention being paid to her defensively, Reitsma still had 22 kills and added nine digs.</p> <p>“She’s phenomenal. She’s special. I don’t know if I’ll ever coach another hitter like her,” Drake said of Reitsma. “She’s the best of the best.”</p> <p>Junior middle <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="24876" first="Emily" last="Struckmeyer"] </strong>came through with 10 kills while hitting .429. Senior setter <strong>Sophie Powell </strong>recorded 32 assists, while senior libero <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="50322" first="Emma" last="Hall"] </strong>had 17 digs.</p> <p>Reitsma, Hall and Powell leave the Lowell program having lifted the Red Arrows to among the best in the state. Reaching the state finals for the first time the last two seasons is a credit to them.</p> <p>“These three (seniors) are really special,” Drake said with the trio next to him. “Coming in my first three years and having these three kids, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Every day in the gym with these three is a blessing and we’re certainly going to miss them. They all are going to do phenomenal things in volleyball and in life. They set a phenomenal precedent for Lowell volleyball moving forward. They’ve created a culture of winning and a culture of family. It’s a beautiful thing that they’ve done and they deserve all the credit for it.”</p>