Story in Photos: 2024 Volleyball Division 1 & 4 Semifinals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 21, 2024
BATTLE CREEK – The matchups for this season’s Division 1 and 4 Volleyball Finals are set after Thursday’s Semifinals at Kellogg Arena, with the possibility of first-time champions in both divisions, a reigning champion playing to repeat in near-perfect fashion and a past champion pursuing its first title in more than a decade.
Saturday’s first two Finals will see the following face off at Kellogg Arena:
10 a.m. – Division 4 – Clarkston Everest Collegiate (37-0-1) vs. St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic (33-3-1)
Noon – Division 1 – Northville (40-2) vs. Rockford (40-9)
Everest is the reigning champion in Division 4 and attempting to become the first Finals winner to also finish undefeated since 2015. The Mountaineers face Our Lady, which will play in its first championship match.
Northville is seeking its first Finals title as well, and finished runner-up in 2022. Rockford is seeking its second championship, to go with its Class A title won in 2011.
Division 2 and 3 Semifinals will be played Friday. Click here for more.
Hockey Weekly Action Photos captured the following from Thursday’s action.
Northville’s Ella Craggs (9) sets for Elle Chenowith (16) during their team’s 25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 25-22 Division 1 Semifinal win over Bloomfield Hills Marian (45-8).
Marian’s Jayla Zayti works to get a ball past Northville’s Mallory Reck (10) and Chenowith (16). Zayti finished with six kills and seven blocks, while Reck had 18 kills and four blocks, and Chenowith had three blocks.
A Fenton player and Rockford's Grace Crelly (12) meet at the net of the second Division 1 Semifinal. Crelly finished with five kills in the Rams’ 25-12, 25-14, 25-8 victory.
The Rams' Mallory Wandel (16) elevates for a kill attempt against the Tigers (36-5). Wandel finished with 18 kills.
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Erin Judge (7) sends a kill attempt toward the Our Lady of the Lake side of the court. Judge finished with 13 kills, but the Lakers prevailed 24-26, 25-22, 26-11, 26-28, 15-8. The Irish finished 42-5-2 this fall.
Clarkston Everest Collegiate’s Emmerson Phyle (5) serves during her team’s 25-10, 25-16, 25-13 sweep of Hancock to open the Division 4 Semifinals on Thursday. Phyle had a pair of aces during the match.
Hancock’s Brooke Koskela (13) puts a ball through an Everest block. Koskela finished with 10 kills for the Gremlins (25-7-2).
TOP PHOTO Our Lady of the Lake’s Nora Proos sends a spike into the block of Judge and another teammate Thursday.
Kingsford's Kreider Prepared for Next Level After Finishing Stellar Flivvers Career
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
June 19, 2025
KINGSFORD — After completing a successful high school volleyball career, Maddy Kreider is ready to take the next step.
The Kingsford senior is taking her talents to Michigan Tech, where she’s expected to continue primarily as a setter.
“That will be a big step for sure, but it’ll be exciting being with the girls,” she said. “The girls are taller in college. It will definitely be an adjustment, physically and mentally. We’ll be traveling longer distances, and it’ll be a matter of improving the mental part of my game.”
Kreider was selected the Upper Peninsula’s Defensive Player of the Year her final two seasons after the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association began voting for all-U.P. volleyball.
“That’s quite an accomplishment,” she said. “It’s a real honor playing with girls I grew up with. We had a great season.”
The 5-foot-8 setter was a four-year starter and two-year team captain at Kingsford, leading the Flivvers to three Division 2 District titles and back-to-back undefeated Great Northern Conference championships. She twice was named GNC Player of the Year.
She was also selected all-state first team in the fall and all-state second team in 2023, and all-region throughout her prep career. Her serving percentage also topped .900 throughout her four seasons on varsity.
Last fall, the Flivvers reached the Regional Semifinal at Manistique where they dropped a 3-2 decision to Kingsley.
“I thought we’d get through,” Kreider said. “We came out lights out in the first two sets, then it was close in the last three.”
Also among the team’s highlights this past fall was a victory at Calumet, approximately 2½ weeks after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Copper Kings on Kingsford’s home floor.
“We wanted to play them,” Kreider said. “They’re a great bunch of girls to play against. They’ve been the measuring stick up here for many years. Winning on their floor was super exciting. We knew we had to play well just to be competitive. That was a great confidence builder for our group. We were definitely on a high going into the District.”
The Flivvers opened their postseason with a 3-1 triumph over Houghton, then defeated Escanaba in straight sets in the District Final.
Kreider will join Calumet senior Maddie Torola at MTU this fall. Torola, who recorded a season-high 19 kills in the four-set victory at Kingsford, helped the Copper Kings finish 29-5 and reach the Division 3 Regional Final at Sault Ste. Marie where they dropped a 3-2 decision to Traverse City St. Francis.
“It was fun playing against her in high school,” Kreider said. “It will be even more fun playing as teammates. It’ll be exciting to be playing on the same team.”
Both will be playing under new head coach Cindy Pindral at Tech. Both of Kreider’s parents played for the Huskies, her mother (and Kingsford varsity coach) Jaclynn volleyball from 1998-2002 and her father Jason basketball from 1997-2000.
Maddy Kreider recently earned an additional honor when she was selected Female Athlete of the Year for Kingsford’s Class of 2025. She recently completed a solid track & field season for the Flivvers.
At the U.P. Division 1 Finals, Kreider placed fourth in the 100-meter dash (13.2) and anchored the Flivvers to a third-place finish in the 800 relay (1:51.57) and fourth in the 400 (53.03) on their home track.
Kreider was named one of 32 MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award winners this winter and plans to study exercise science and kinesiology at MTU.
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTOS (Top) Kingsford’s Maddy Kreider sets for her teammates during a match last season. (Middle) Kreider, right, takes a photo with Kingsford’s Male Athlete of the Year Gavin Grondin. (Photos provided by the Kingsford athletic department.)