Kozuch Family Adding to Memorable Moments as 'Dream' Run Together Nears End
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
November 4, 2026
A photo from several years ago shows a young Madeline Kozuch with a coaching whistle in her mouth, sitting atop the shoulders of her mother. Naturally, they were on a volleyball court.
Fast forward to present time: Kozuch is a standout senior outside hitter for a strong Morley Stanwood team, which her mom coaches.
Robin Kozuch, who was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association (MIVCA) Hall of Fame this year and has led Morley Stanwood to two MHSAA Finals championships, is in her 28th and final season as head coach for the Mohawks.
Morley Stanwood (26-11-0) takes on Lakeview (15-21-1) in an MHSAA Division 3 District Semifinal tonight in Kent City. Mom and daughter know their time together on a volleyball court is winding down, but they hope to keep this journey going as long as possible.
“The more (the end) gets closer, the more sad I’m getting,” Madeline Kozuch said. “She texted me the other day, she’s like, ‘I can’t believe it’s our final year together.’”
“It’s definitely real,” Robin Kozuch said about the bittersweet emotions. “Every step of the way this year – A: Because I’ll be an empty-nester because Piper’s in college; (and B:) I think about, ‘Where will I be this time next year?’ I don’t know how I’m going to deal with that. It’s still different. I’ve been (coaching) since before they were born, so it’s hard.”
Piper Kozuch, a 2025 Morley Stanwood alumna, is a sophomore setter for the Madonna University volleyball team. She and younger sister Madeline will be opponents on the court as the latter is headed to play volleyball for Aquinas College, which is in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference with Madonna.
The Kozuchs are a volleyball family. Robin’s husband, Matt, coached the sport alongside his wife for 25 years, including during Morley Stanwood’s Class C title years of 2007 and 2011. Now he’s in his third season as an assistant coach for the unbeaten and Division II top-ranked Ferris State University squad (25-0).
The Kozuchs are rock stars in a volleyball setting. On a related note, Matt Kozuch once was the front man for a rock band. He was lead singer for the band “Dirty Americans,” a Detroit-based group whose work included playing festivals overseas alongside the likes of Metallica, Green Day and Motorhead, plus opening for Alice Cooper once upon a time.
“I got into (volleyball) to help Robin with a dream, and it turned into something I loved. It became a huge passion of mine,” said Matt Kozuch, whose last name is pronounced “Ko-jus,” like the “jus” in au jus.
Robin Kozuch, a Millington native who was inducted into her alma mater’s athletics hall of fame as part of the inaugural class, was a 5-foot-11 outside hitter at the Division I collegiate level. Kozuch spent her freshman year with Michigan State University’s Final Four team in 1995 before she transferred to Central Michigan University. She’s a twin and has four sisters, three of whom went on to play college athletics.
As a coach at Morley Stanwood, Kozuch has amassed an overall record of 902-289-36. She reached her 900th win when her team captured the Central State Activities Association title Oct. 20.
Kozuch has coached or worked with eight nieces or daughters who have gone on to play volleyball in college. She serves as a regional rep for MIVCA, and throughout her tenure at Morley Stanwood she’s been all over the state running camps and assisting with clinics to help grow the sport.
Kozuch plans to continue helping out with the Morley Stanwood volleyball program. She has been grooming her niece, Alexis (Huntey) Cummings, to become the Mohawks’ next head volleyball coach. Cummings (Huntey) was a standout player on the Mohawks’ Class C championship volleyball and girls basketball teams during the 2011-12 school year.
While Robin Kozuch has two daughters, she views her players in much the same way. One player, Morley Stanwood senior libero Saige Ososki, said that Kozuch has been much more than a coach to her.
“Not just from volleyball, but even just being, like, a person,” Ososki said. “She’s so amazing and she’s like a second mom to me. I really look up to her.”
As Ososki recalled, she and Madeline Kozuch hit it off as friends during third grade. Their relationship continues as they spend a lot of time together as teammates in three sports.
At Morley Stanwood, particularly in girls athletics, many student-athletes play multiple sports.
Kozuch, a well-rounded individual who carries a 3.89 GPA that’s still rising, excels in volleyball, basketball, and softball. During the 2025-26 school year, Morley Stanwood was a conference and District champion in all three of those sports. The Mohawks’ girls basketball team captured a Regional title and softball squad was a Regional finalist.
“All of our girls sports are really strong and everyone plays the same (sports),” Madeline Kozuch said. “Every volleyball player plays basketball and softball. We’re all super close and very competitive and we always go super far, so I just feel like it’s more family.”
Not surprisingly, volleyball has a special place in Madeline Kozuch’s heart, and she’s thrived. Last season, she earned all-conference, all-region, first-team all-state, was named Big Rapids Pioneer Dream Team Player of the Year and made the MLive Muskegon Chronicle Dream Team.
This season, the 5-foot-8 Kozuch has recorded 564 kills, a .331 hitting percentage, a .449 kill percentage, 78 aces, 381 digs, and passes at a 2.1 clip. In her career, she has compiled 1,178 kills; 1,200 digs, and 78 aces.
Kozuch has played volleyball at a high level for quite some time, including with her Inside Out travel team that competes nationally.
Dominant as she is on the court, Madeline Kozuch has a soft side as well.
“She’s honestly a really caring person – almost sometimes to a fault,” Robin Kozuch said. “She’s very empathetic. I think sometimes she’s a little too nice about hurting people’s feelings. She’s gotten better this year about stepping up and demanding things from her teammates, taking more of a vocal role and pushing her teammates. … Piper had no problem with that.”
That’s not to say Madeline Kozuch lacks competitiveness. Far from it.
It’s in the Kozuch and Ill (Robin’s maiden name) families’ blood.
“I think everybody would say Robin (is most competitive), but I know deep down I hate losing,” Matt Kozuch said with a chuckle. “I think maybe after she thinks about it, she might say it’s me, too. But I think it’s pretty close to even, Robin and me both. We just don’t want to lose, man.”
Robin and Madeline Kozuch both acknowledged that the mother-daughter dynamic can create some pressure to perform and bring about naysayers, but they keep their noses to the grindstone and continue to deliver.
While Robin Kozuch plans to keep pitching in with Morley Stanwood’s program when she can, her family’s focus will shift to her daughters’ collegiate travels. It’s been quite the journey as it stands.
“It’s been sad watching it wind down,” Matt Kozuch said about Robin and Madeline’s careers at Morley Stanwood coming to an end. “It’s been an epic career for Robin and Matty, too.”
Added Ososki about her coach and teammate: “I just think those two do so much for our school and our program. They are amazing at what they do and, I mean, we probably wouldn’t do any of this without them. I’m just so thankful for them.”
Scott DeCamp has worked more than 25 years in sports media, including 21 at MLive Media Group as a reporter and editor. He is founder and owner of DeCamp Creative Solutions. Email him at [email protected] with story ideas for Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, and Oceola counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Morley Stanwood’s Madeline Kozuch celebrates a moment during a match this season against Big Rapids, with her teammates joining in as well. (2) Kozuch sits atop her mom Robin’s shoulders with the coach’s whistle. (3) Morley Stanwood coach Robin Kozuch enjoys a moment with her Morley Stanwood players, including Madeline (10). (4) Madeline Kozuch poses for a photo with her parents and the softball team’s District championship trophy won this spring. (5) Kozuch (10) smashes a kill attempt against Big Rapids. (Action photos by Scott DeCamp. Childhood and softball photos provided by the Kozuch family.)
Gabriel Richard Achieves Volleyball Perfection
November 21, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard finished the final set of the 2015 MHSAA volleyball season Saturday evening the same way it finished every match beginning in mid-August.
As the winner.
Gabriel Richard became the first undefeated MHSAA volleyball champion since Marysville in Class B in 1999, sweeping reigning champion North Branch 3-0 – 25-21, 25-14, 25-19.
The Fighting Irish – eliminated in a Quarterfinal a year ago – took on and beat many of the best in Michigan this fall. The perfect run included victories over five ranked teams in Class B and three of the top four in Class A including champion Novi.
"I remember our first practice when we made goals for ourselves: beat this team, make it to states. And I think we surprised ourselves to actually go through the season undefeated,” Gabriel Richard junior outside hitter Jurnee Tipton said. “We always had the talent last year, but I don’t think we knew what to do with it as much. This year, working on that and working on being focused, helped us.
“I think our talent was always there. We just needed to know how to work with it.”
And that said, Tipton admitted it still hadn’t sunk in what she and her teammates had accomplished. Coach Mayssa Bazzi said it might not for years to come.
That makes sense – the youngest Irish (42-0) might not have been born when Marysville completed its perfect 1998-99 run.
Gabriel Richard was among the final eight in Class B last season, finishing 22-7-1. But a series of wins this fall – first over Novi in the second tournament of the season, then over Class A semifinalist Grand Rapids Christian in the final at the Beast of the East tournament in October – convinced anyone watching that Gabriel Richard might have history-making in its future.
“My team has blown my expectations out of the roof,” Gabriel Richard senior Emily Tanski said. “I’m so thankful.”
The Irish lost only four sets all season and none during the MHSAA Tournament, even as expectations and anticipation continued to build.
“There’s been a little more pressure after each match this season. It just kept building and building and building,” Bazzi said. “The biggest thing is the composure of this team. I don’t think we take the pressure on the court with us. I think we feel it when we’re off the court and we’re anxious and we just want to play. When we’re on the court, we’re just in our element.”
In only three sets Saturday, Tipton had 26 kills hitting an incredible .658 with only one error. Tanski added 23 kills, and junior Emma Nowak had 50 assists – fifth-most in an MHSAA Final.
Junior Olivia Fike had 13 kills and freshman Allyson Severance had 11 to lead the Broncos (57-12-2).
North Branch coach Jim Fish said his team tried to leave other hitters open to persuade Gabriel Richard to go away from its big two. The Irish didn’t follow.
Gabriel Richard never trailed in a set by more than three points, and scored 14 straight points – the final five of the second set and first nine of the third.
“We played maybe the best we played all year, and we still couldn’t (stop them),” Fish said. “I’m glad we didn’t give up. I told them, that’s what they do. They just wear on you and teams give up. We’re not going to give up.
“We battled the whole time. We did not give up. That third game says a lot; we got back within four. We made them earn it. That is one of the best teams – I’ve been doing this a long time – one of the best teams I’ve seen. They’re just really good.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Gabriel Richard players rush toward coach Mayssa Bazzi as she presents the Class B championship trophy. (Middle) Emily Tanski (3) pushes a ball over the net for the Fighting Irish.