Fear the Socks: Cadillac Volleyball Success Never Out of Style
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
September 22, 2023
Cadillac’s girls volleyball team is quite accustomed to getting flack from opposing teams’ student sections about their socks.
That’s not likely to continue much longer though, thanks to the Vikings’ performance on the court and major college teams becoming similarly equipped.
And their new warm-up shirts tell it all.
“My team has always worn knee socks,” said 23-year veteran Cadillac coach Michelle Brines. “So people will make fun of the team, or they’ll cheer ‘put your socks down’ and this kind of thing.
“This year we finally got shirts saying ‘Fear the Socks,’” she continued. “The knee socks were in back in the day, and we’ve always worn them.”
Now college powerhouse clubs like Texas and Nebraska wear knee socks. The Cornhuskers just went back to them last season — a year calumniating with an appearance in the national championship match. Nebraska and Texas regularly make runs to and beyond the NCAA Elite Eight.
Under Brines, Cadillac too is used to deep postseason runs including six MHSAA Semifinal appearances. The Vikings made their first appearance in the Division 2 Final last November, falling to North Branch.
Cadillac is off to a 17-3-2 start this fall preparing for Division 1 competition, as they moved into that division for this season. The Vikings have their sights on another Big North Conference championship too as they prepare for District play in Grand Haven at the end of October. Cadillac is 4-1 in league play.
The Vikings have been led again this year by all-state middle hitter Carissa Musta. The 6-foot-4 senior is handling the pressure well. Teams celebrating a block of Musta’s hit are quickly shaken off, according to Brines.
“It’s got to be tough when somebody gets all crazy because they just blocked you, but Carissa is very composed,” Brines said. “She never comes off the floor.
“She’s pretty darn good in the back row,” Brines continued. “I am very impressed with her growth and composure.”
Musta topped the 1,000-kill mark earlier this season and became the school’s career leader in blocks this week in a three-set win over Petoskey.
Senior Makenzie Johns, a 6-1 outside hitter, is also an offensive powerhouse for the Vikings. Senior setter Cassie Jenema comes through regularly with kills in addition to her strong defense and serving.
“We have 11 players on our team, and they all play an important role,” Brines noted. “Even though we have a few that really, really stand out, we are not going to be successful if we’re not all doing our job.”
The Vikings also regularly feature three sophomores: Ari Bryant, Grace Zubak and Sophia Clough. All three were on the freshman team last year because of the team’s depth.
Cadillac shared the Big North championship last year with Traverse City Central. They both suffered home losses to each other but picked up road wins. That trend has continued this year as Central handed Cadillac its lone league loss in five sets on the Vikings’ court. They will play again Oct. 4 in Traverse City.
Brines is pleased with her team’s progress at midseason. The Vikings host Alpena on Wednesday and then battle in the Portage Invitational.
“I have never had a season moving people around as much as I have,” Brines said. “I expect to see a lot of growth out of my team as we go into the second half of the season.”
Brines hopes the Vikings will make a run to the Final again this fall so she can become accustomed to a new routine.
“We finally broke through and won that (Friday Semifinal) night game and got to play the next day, which had never happened,” Brines recalled. “I didn’t really know what to do because usually I was going out for dinner with my team because we lost.”
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The knee socks are the Vikings' signature also at the freshman and junior varsity levels. “We have all of our levels wear them — it is kind of our thing,” Brines pointed out. “When we walk in we have knee socks, people know we’re Cadillac.
“It’s kind of fun,” she continued. “I am old school.”
Crew socks are allowed in practice, however. Brines and the Vikings seriously considered getting away from their long-standing tradition.
“I used to make them wear them in practice,” Brines said. “One of my players that went on to coach some college and be a head coach herself said ‘Coach, you can’t do (stop wearing them) because that’s what you kind of always done and nobody else wears knee socks.’”
A spokesperson for Nebraska said there’s no real reason Nebraska went back to wearing long socks beyond player preference, and that it seems like that trend is coming back in volleyball.
“Very cool,” Brines said with a smile when she learned of the Cornhuskers response. “So basically, we never went out of style.”
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) Cadillac's McKenzie Johns unloads on an attempt during a match. (Middle) Cassie Jenema sets for a teammate during a match. (Below) Ari Bryant keeps the ball in play. (Photos by Marc Vieau/Cadillac News).
Block Party: 2025 Girls Volleyball Week 9 Report
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 22, 2025
A volleyball season full of weekend excitement will again enjoy one of its most attention-grabbing highlights Sunday.
More than two months of matches will boil down to the selection of first and second seeds for every District bracket, with MHSAA Tournament play set to begin a week later on Nov. 3.
Seeds are determined by Michigan Power Ratings (MPR), and as noted previously you can follow how teams stack up statewide, in their respective divisions and even in their respective Districts on the MPR page. The formula for determining the rest of the District is posted here.
Records, results and schedules below are those posted for teams on MHSAA.com, and rankings reflect polls posted by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Kingsley d. Traverse City St. Francis (25-22, 25-15) The Division 3 No. 3-ranked Stags (44-4-1) went 5-0 at the McBain Tournament, defeating honorable mentions McBain and Beal City as well but topping the day with this sweep of the No. 8 Gladiators (24-14-0).
2. Hudsonville d. Grand Haven (25-20, 27-29, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11) The Division 1 No. 9 Eagles (27-8-1) prevailed after falling behind 2-1, avenging a pair of previous losses to the No. 8 Buccaneers (33-9-0) from Sept. 25 and Oct. 4.
3. Crystal Falls Forest Park d. Kingsford (25-15, 25-14, 25-21) The Division 4 No. 5 Trojans (35-1-0) continued to justify their status among the Upper Peninsula’s best regardless of division, with this win over the Division 2 honorable mention Flivvers (19-2-0) – during a 3-0 day at the Clash of the Divisions – one of their most impressive this fall.
4. Grand Haven d. Grand Rapids Catholic Central (25-17, 25-19) Three days before the Hudsonville loss, Grand Haven went 4-0 at the Mattawan Invitational with this win over the Division 4 No. 5 Cougars (30-10-1) arguably the best although the Bucs also downed Division 1 honorable mention Byron Center.
5. Hancock d. Lake Linden-Hubbell (25-12, 22-25, 25-14, 27-25) The Division 4 No. 8 Bulldogs (23-3-2) followed up a big sweep of Ishpeming with this win over Lake Linden-Hubbell (22-5-0) to further firm up their place among the best in the Upper Peninsula and Division 4 as a whole as well.
Watch List
With an eye toward November, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Brighton (25-6-2) The Bulldogs are holding onto an honorable mention in the latest Division 1 rankings with a run of nine wins over their last 12 matches and their losses this season coming to an incredible group of No. 1 Rockford, No. 2 Farmington Hills Mercy, No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Marian, No. 7 Utica Eisenhower (twice) and honorable mention Jenison. Brighton clinched the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West title and will play Northville in the KLAA Gold Tournament championship match Saturday. The Bulldogs also are slated for a top seed in their District.
South Lyon East (30-7-1) The No. 10-ranked Cougars finished 4-0 at the final Motor City Power Series last weekend, highlighted by a 2-1 win over Division 2 No. 3 North Branch. All but one of their losses have come to a top-10 or honorable mention team in Division 1 as well, and they remain the only team to defeat top-ranked Rockford. East followed up that Sept. 20 win by defeating Division 2 No. 2 Detroit Country Day as well, and is tied for first in the Lakes Valley Conference with the league tournament coming up Saturday.
DIVISION 2
Flat Rock (22-6-0) A Sept. 22 win over Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central – the program’s first against the Huron League foe – put Flat Rock into the spotlight this fall, and it has received honorable mention again this week in the Division 2 poll. But the Rams have much more to boast, including a victory over Kingsley, and have also built up their experience in losses most recently to No. 6 Tecumseh and honorable mention Milan. Tune in for tonight’s for the rematch with the Kestrels.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central (30-10-1) After opening this season with three losses at the Traverse City West Invitational, the Cougars have strung together plenty of success including 13 victories over their last 15 matches. They did fall to Grand Haven over the weekend at Mattawan but defeated DeWitt, Portage Central and Division 3 No. 7 Kalamazoo Christian and moved up a spot to No. 4 in this week’s Division 2 rankings. They’ve already far surpassed last year’s 23-22-2 finish, with a likely top seed awaiting in their District as the only team in the bracket with a winning record.
DIVISION 3
Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep (17-3-2) The Fighting Irish are not ranked currently but may draw some notice with a 9-1-2 run that’s included a 25-23, 28-26, sweep of Division 4 No. 6 Battle Creek St. Philip and just a three-set loss to Division 2 Buchanan after Hackett won the first set. The Irish are lined up right now as the likely second seed in their District opposite No. 7 Kalamazoo Christian, which defeated Hackett in last year’s District Final and this season on Sept. 23. The only other loss this fall came to Delton Kellogg.
Pewamo-Westphalia (24-7-3) The 2022 Division 3 champion – and a quarterfinalist the last two seasons – No. 6 P-W is riding a seven-match winning streak as it gears up for another potential run. The best win over these last few weeks was a 2-1 comeback victory over No. 2 Plymouth Christian Academy at the Mt. Morris Tournament, and wins over No. 7 Kalamazoo Christian, No. 9 Saginaw Valley Lutheran and Division 2 No. 10 Battle Creek Harper Creek also stick out from this season’s overall work.
DIVISION 4
Midland Calvary Baptist (23-5-1) The Kings need two more wins to equal the total from last year’s Regional finalist team, and on Saturday went 4-1 at the Tawas Tournament with especially notable victories over Division 3 Johannesburg-Lewiston and Alcona and the loss to Division 2 Ogemaw Heights. All of Calvary Baptist’s defeats and the one tie came against Division 2 or 3 opponents, and as of today the Kings are slated to be the top seed in a District bracket that also includes No. 6 Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
Onekama (23-7-2) The Portagers are 9-2-2 over the last two-plus weeks and an honorable mention in this week’s rankings as the prepare to attempt next month to extend a five-year District title streak. They went 3-1-1 at the Farwell Paula Sullivan Tournament over the weekend, tying and then falling to Division 3 No. 10 Manton. But Onekama has solid wins over honorable mention Suttons Bay and Manton from earlier this season and plenty of other tough losses as well.
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these matches and tournaments coming up:
Wednesday – Davison (24-4-0) at Mount Pleasant (25-6-1) – Both went undefeated in their divisions and earn their spots in this overall Saginaw Valley League championship match.
Wednesday – Carrollton (27-1-2) at Saginaw Valley Lutheran (35-8-3) – This is a winner-take-all matchup for the Tri-Valley Conference Blue regular-season championship.
Saturday – Lowell East vs. West Challenge – The 16-team field includes Division 1 top-ranked Rockford, No. 2 Farmington Hills Mercy, No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Marian, No. 4 Bloomfield Hills, No. 5 Lowell, No. 7 Utica Eisenhower and honorable mentions Jenison, Byron Center and Clarkston among several others.
Tuesday – Detroit Country Day quad – The Division 2 No. 2 Yellowjackets (13-7-0) will welcome Marian (34-4-0), Eisenhower (30-3-1) and Fenton (15-10-0).
Tuesday – Beal City (28-7-0) at Roscommon (42-2-0) – Division 3 top-ranked Roscommon can finish a perfect run through the Highland Conference, but honorable mention Beal City hopes to stand in the way.
PHOTOS (Top) Mount Pleasant's Tessa Ervin (2) digs the ball during a match against Saginaw Heritage. (Middle) East Grand Rapids' Heidi White (1) elevates to get to the ball against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. (Mount Pleasant/Heritage photo by High School Sports Scene. East Grand Rapids/Forest Hills Central photo by Michigan Sports Photo.)