Block Party: 2025 Girls Volleyball Week 10 Report
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 29, 2025
League championships have been all but decided, Districts are assigned and brackets drawn, and we’re only a few days from the start of this season’s MHSAA Girls Volleyball Tournament.
That means we’ll be coming back shortly, as our “Block Party” schedule moves up the next edition to Monday so we can preview some of the most intriguing District brackets across the state and all four divisions.
Until then, below are a few more regular-season observations as teams continued with their final tune-ups:
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Rockford d. Farmington Hills Mercy (24-18, 23-25, 15-6) The East vs. West Challenge at Lowell was another opportunity for the Division 1 top-ranked Rams (40-1-1) to show their superiority among the state’s elite – which they did, not only defeating then-No. 2 Mercy (18-4-2) but also new No. 2 Bloomfield Hills and No. 7 Utica Eisenhower among others.
2. South Lyon East d. Farmington Hills Mercy (25-19, 18-25, 25-13) Outside of Rockford, there may be no team hotter than Division 1 No. 5 South Lyon East (37-7-1), which has won 11 straight and followed this with a sweep through the Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.
3. Bloomfield Hills Marian d. Detroit Country Day (25-16, 25-16) The Division 1 No. 4 Mustangs (43-5-0) have won 20 of their last 23 matches, and went 3-0 at the Country Day quad Monday including this sweep of the Division 2 top-ranked Yellowjackets (16-8-0).
4. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern d. Tecumseh (25-21, 25-21) The Division 1 No. 6 Huskies (33-8-1) handed just the second defeat this season to Division 2 No. 6 Tecumseh (51-2-0).
5. Plymouth Christian Academy d. Ubly (25-20, 25-21) A 5-0 run through the Mt. Morris Tournament by Division 3 No. 2 PCA (37-8-1) including this win over the Division 4 No. 3 Bearcats (25-10-4), plus sweeps of Charlevoix and much larger Holt, Essexville Garber and Cadillac.
Watch List
With an eye toward November, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
East Grand Rapids (29-10-0) The Pioneers are among honorable mentions in Division 1 again this week, and despite a pair of losses to Division 2 No. 3 Grand Rapids Christian over the last eight days bounced back to defeat No. 4 Grand Rapids Catholic Central and Division 4 No. 2 Fowler heading into these final few days of the regular season. EGR already has bested last year’s record of 26-16-5 and will enter its District next week as the second seed to Forest Hills Northern. Eight of the team’s losses have come against top-10 teams in Divisions 1 and 2.
Zeeland East (29-4-0) Although the Chix did lose out on a league title Monday falling in five sets to Division 2 No. 5 Holland Christian, that was the team’s first defeat since facing Holland Christian on Sept. 23 – and the only other losses this season came to Division 1 No. 10 Grand Haven. Zeeland East also is among honorable mentions this week and seeded second in a District behind another honorable mention in Byron Center. The Chix do have an early-season win over Holland Christian and have defeated Division 2 honorable mention Marshall and Division 3 No. 6 Kalamazoo Christian among others.
DIVISION 2
Detroit Country Day (16-8-0) The reigning Division 2 champion has been ranked No. 1 this season for all but two weeks, and moved back into the top spot this week after a four-set win over Bloomfield Hills on Oct. 21 – which avenged a loss from the season-opening quad Aug. 26. All eight losses have come against Division 1 opponents, with six to teams ranked or receiving honorable mention currently. Country Day is seeded first in its District, which empties into a Regional that could include No. 2 North Branch or No. 7 Imlay City.
Holland Christian (23-8-0) As noted above, the Maroons have clinched a share of a league championship, in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Black and with Spring Lake to finish the schedule. The closing run to secure the title came after a four-match losing streak that included three defeats to ranked Division 1 teams at the Jenison Invitational, and seven of the team’s losses total have come to ranked or honorable mention opponents. The Zeeland East win noted above also gave Holland Christian one more this season than last, and the Maroons will head into District play a top seed.
DIVISION 3
Byron (28-3-1) The Eagles have won nine straight matches including all four Saturday at the Marine City Cardinal Mooney Invitational, and they already have five more victories than last season – when Byron reached the Regional Finals. They’ve played several matches against Division 1 and 2 opponents this fall, with two of their defeats coming from teams in those divisions, and they also have notable victories over Alma and New Boston Huron among larger-enrollment foes. Byron also will be a top seed in its District.
Morley Stanwood (27-12-0) With eight wins over its last 10 matches, Morley Stanwood has joined the list of honorable mention teams in Division 3 the last two weeks. The schedule has included showdowns with several ranked opponents, with losses to No. 1 Roscommon, No. 2 Plymouth Christian Academy, No. 3 Kingsley and twice to No. 10 Beal City. That schedule has paid off as Morley Stanwood will enter its District as a top seed but with Central State Activities Association rival Kent City the second seed and after Kent City won two of three meetings this fall including in Saturday’s league tournament.
DIVISION 4
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart (23-8-6) The 2022 Division 4 champion also made the Quarterfinals in 2023 and the Semifinals a year ago, and has prepped for another potential extended run facing a slate of larger schools and several that also are ranked. Sacred Heart is No. 4 in Division 4, and half of its losses this season are to Division 3 No. 10 Beal City, with the rest to Division 1 honorable mention Traverse City Central and three other Division 1 or two schools. Meanwhile, the Irish also have wins over Division 4 No. 2 Fowler and honorable mention Grand Rapids Sacred Heart.
Wakefield-Marenisco (19-7-0) The Cardinals opened this season with a 3-4 showing at the Copper Mountain Conference tournament, but have since avenged two of those losses and another early-season defeat in downing Ewen-Trout Creek last week. W-M has won eight straight matches since falling to No. 5 Crystal Falls Forest Park at the Trojans’ invitational on Sept. 20, and three losses this season have come against Lake Linden-Hubbell (23-5-0). The Cardinals are seeded second in their District to Forest Park and Thursday against Ironwood can equal their 20 victories of a year ago.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these matches and tournaments coming up:
Thursday – ABCD quad at Traverse City Central – This annual event will see the Division 1 honorable mention Trojans (26-7-0) host Division 3 No. 3 Kingsley (47-4-1) and No. 8 Traverse City St. Francis (24-14-0), and Division 4 Leland (12-25-1).
Thursday – Essexville Garber quad – The Dukes (38-11-3) will welcome Midland Dow (19-12-5), Yale (23-21-1) and Saginaw Valley Lutheran (43-10-3).
Thursday – Buckley quad – The Bears (27-5-1) will host an impressive Division 4 crew of No. 10 Onekama (30-8-3), Bellaire (19-7-4) and Traverse City Christian (24-12-2).
Saturday – Temperance Bedford Spooktacular – The field for this year’s regular-season finale includes Division 4 No. 7 Adrian Lenawee Christian, Division 2 No. 10 Flat Rock and Division 3 No. 4 Hanover Horton among others.
Saturday – Grand Blanc Tournament – The Bobcats will close the regular season with Division 2 No. 2 North Branch and Division 1 Oxford among those in the field.
PHOTOS (Top) Saginaw Valley Lutheran’s Grace Parker (7) elevates to get to the ball as Birch Run’s Teagan Abraham (2) sets up to block Tuesday. (Middle) Saginaw Swan Valley’s Hadley Wagner connects on a kill attempt while Clio’s Alaina Gliniecki (3) and Kelcy Sperling (14) get ready at the net, also Tuesday at Birch Run. (Photos by Terry Lyons.)
Senior-Led Lake Orion Earns 1st Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 17, 2018
BATTLE CREEK – With 10 seniors on the roster, it’s fitting this year’s version of the Lake Orion volleyball team was the one to bring the school its first MHSAA volleyball title.
And while they’re plenty talented, that group brought a trait coach Tony Scavarda said was the difference in getting his program over the top:
Grit.
“We’ve been in situations this year several times where we were down late in sets, and they don’t stop playing,” Scavarda said. “Even the set we lost tonight, they could have just said, ‘Eh, we’ll win the next set.’ But no, they came back, it was 23-24, and fought even to the very end of that set. They’re very resilient, gritty, and they don’t let any set go without a fight.”
Lake Orion defeated Rockford 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16 on Saturday at Kellogg Arena to claim the Division 1 title. It was the program’s second trip to the final game, with the first ending with a loss against Rockford in 2011.
Thanks to a 30-kill effort from senior Paige Briggs and a 50-set effort from senior Wren Macaulay, it was clear there wouldn’t be any heart break this time.
“Honestly, it just feels unreal,” Macaulay said while hugging the championship trophy. “Being here for four years and on the team and losing the last three years, it feels so good to end on a winning streak and not with tears this year. It’s exciting, it’s really exciting. It still hasn’t hit me yet.”
The Dragons (68-6) not only brought home the first state title in school history, but became the first team from the Oakland Activities Association to win at the Finals level, something Scavarda learned at the post-match press conference.
“We knew it was the first ever for Lake Orion, which was a pretty big accomplishment. But to be the only one from the OAA, seeing that it’s one of the toughest leagues year in and year out in the state, that’s surprising,” Scavarda said. “But I knew these guys had it in them. It was just a matter of putting it together at the right time.”
After controlling much of the first set, Lake Orion found itself trailing for much of the second. That’s when it decided to lean a bit more on Briggs, who had 10 kills in the frame.
“My whole thought was Wren really likes to spread the ball around, and it opens Paige up a lot of times,” Scavarda said. “I specifically told her though, I don’t care if Paige’s legs fall off tonight, I want to take this in three. She can rest tomorrow and the next day. We gotta get that second set. That’s a big momentum thing; even though they got that third set, we knew that we were still up 2-1. It’s still a nice little cushion to have.”
Rockford (47-12-1) didn’t relent in the third, leading for much of it before holding Lake Orion off late.
“We’ve been in that situation a couple times before, and they handled themselves very well,” Rockford coach Kelly Delacher said. “They continued to fight throughout that third set, and did a good job of squeaking out a win there.”
But Lake Orion grabbed control of the fourth set early, and kept Rockford at arm’s length throughout before closing the match, fittingly, with a kill by Briggs, assisted by Macaulay.
“I feel like our team is really good at being calm in those tough situations,” Lake Orion senior middle blocker Leigha Boes said. “Especially when it’s close, we really don’t hear the cheering and the crowd and the other team.”
Senior libero Ciara Livingway had 13 digs for the Dragons, while Boes had nine kills. Kendal Robertson added six kills and four blocks, while Sydney Smith had seven kills and 11 digs.
Senior Lindsay Taylor led Rockford with 20 kills and 14 digs. Emmy Webb added 12 kills, while Emilee Karelse had 36 assists.
“I’m super proud with how my team played,” Delacher said. “It’s not an easy thing coming out and playing under bright lights and cameras and a big, huge crowd from your school, and I thought they performed very well under the pressure throughout the whole tournament. Lake Orion is a very good team, and they’re a very deserving champion.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Lake Orion hoists its first MHSAA championship trophy Saturday at the Kellogg Arena. (Middle) Dragons Wren Macaulay (10), Leigha Boes (13) and Paige Briggs put up a block as Rockford’s Emmy Webb sends a kill attempt through.