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.)
'On the Map:' Nwabueze Hitting Rising Bloomfield Hills Into Championship Mix
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 30, 2025
BLOOMFIELD HILLS – Those who have kept an eye on the Division 1 state volleyball rankings this season may have done a double take at least a few times throughout the fall.
Was that Bloomfield Hills consistently ranked among the top five and now No. 2 in the latest coaches poll? Ahead of state powers such as Farmington Hills Mercy and Bloomfield Hills Marian?
Yes, that has been the case.
“I think we’ve put ourselves on the map this year,” said senior Kayla Nwabueze.
To those more familiar with Bloomfield Hills, it’s easier to see the biggest reason why the Blackhawks have become such a force – Nwabueze’s transcendent talent.
A finalist for the Miss Volleyball Award, she just surpassed 2,000 career kills, 1,000 career digs and 1,300 career receptions, and owns the school record for kills (2,013 heading into Wednesday’s match against Rochester).
Nwabueze has excelled at multiple positions on the court throughout her high school and club careers. But this season, first-year Bloomfield Hills head coach Brian Kim decided to put Nwabueze exclusively at outside hitter, and she had delivered with 547 kills heading into that Rochester match.
“It allowed her to have a more defined role in our offense,” Kim said. “Middle is her primary position, and she is extremely strong and capable in the middle. But we moved her to the outside to help out our offense.”
Nwabueze didn’t start club volleyball until age 12. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have skills already developed. Nwabueze has an older sister, Ashlea, who played the sport, and the two would constantly do drills and have practice sessions together before Kayla got into club ball.
“We definitely were playing outside,” Kayla said. “She definitely taught me to play volleyball in the backyard and helped me grow in volleyball.”
As much of a surgeon as Nwabueze is on the court – showing exceptional precision with her hitting – she wants to be an even better one off the court one day.
Nwabueze will play college volleyball at Harvard, where she wants to study medicine and ultimately become an orthopedic surgeon.
Nwabueze carries a 4.0 grade-point average attending the prestigious International Academy in Bloomfield Hills, which doesn’t have sports programs and allows students to play sports in the Bloomfield Hills district.
While she had overtures to play for more prominent college volleyball programs, the academic side of things was more of a priority – making Harvard the fit.
“I was just thinking about more than just volleyball and what I wanted to do after the fact,” said Nwabueze, who also considered Yale. “Harvard really had a nice plan for me.”
But there is more business to be taken care of in the coming weeks before Nwabueze starts focusing on that part of her future.
First, she is a legitimate candidate to become the first player in school history to win the Miss Volleyball Award.
More importantly, she wants to help Bloomfield Hills continue what’s been a historic season.
The Black Hawks will play in a District next week at Troy Athens, where a likely District Final matchup with No. 4-ranked and neighbor Bloomfield Hills Marian awaits.
Each team has a bye into Wednesday’s semifinal round, and barring major upsets, they should get through to face each other on Nov. 7.
“It is special to know that I broke some of the records here and set that bar,” Nwabueze said. “We have done so good this year, and we are still going and are still playing hard. I hope we can go farther.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTO (Top) Bloomfield Hills’ Kayla Nwabueze (19) winds up for a kill attempt this season against Lake Orion. (Photo by Kristina Sikora/KMS Photography. Headshot by Keith Dunlap.)