Thank You from Second Half
January 25, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Next week will mark the one-year birthday of Second Half, our place to tell your high school sports stories.
And I thank you for helping us to such a great start.
We knew what we hoped to accomplish starting this site a year ago, but we've learned quite a bit during a relatively short time. Although we continue to pursue the mission of being home of the state’s best high school stories and a daily stop for fans, we’ll continue to experiment to figure out what you'd most like to see and how best we can continue to pass along the great things happening in MHSAA athletics.
A few things to call to your attention as we move ahead:
- First and foremost, we strive to tell your stories – hoping to hit every sport and all regions of our state – and have some intriguing ones coming up as we get into the second half of the winter season. Stay tuned.
- Second Half is the home for the “Battle of the Fans II.” We have visits to Buchanan and Vandercook Lake next week, followed by Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard and Zeeland East the week after. We’ll announce the winner Feb. 22. All will be found here first.
- We've revamped our video page (see menu across the top of this screen) and will be adding more videos more regularly in the year to come.
- After a brief hiatus, we’ll next week bring back “High 5s” featuring two athletes and a team that have done great things this season.
- What you’re reading now is the first of a weekly “First Pitch” blog that will allow us to post more of the quick hits we run across in our regular travels. Make sure to continue checking out the twice-weekly blog by Executive Director Jack Roberts, as well as the Viewpoints and SAC Sound-Offs supplied regularly by our friends from the Michigan State University Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and the members of our Student Advisory Council, respectively.
- We began providing in-depth statewide coverage – both previewing and then postgame reporting – of our Finals in every sport this fall, and hope to become your first and fastest source for the stories behind our championships.
We’re always looking for ideas both for stories or any other features you’d like to see – and feel free to send them directly to me at [email protected].
And again, thank you again for coming to our site today. We look forward to seeing you more in the year to come.
Marian Avenges Season's Lone Loss in Clinching 3rd-Straight Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2022
BATTLE CREEK – Izzy Busignani spent most of the Division 1 Volleyball Final on Saturday smashing the ball through the court at Kellogg Arena.
But when it came time to close out Bloomfield Hills Marian’s third straight title, the sophomore went with finesse.
“I saw a triple block in front of me, and I saw that the defense was back on their heels, so I knew that if I tipped it short, it would either be out of system or it would go straight down,” Busignani said. “I was just kind of watching it and waiting to see what the result was.”
Busignani’s 27th kill on the day was a tip over the block that the Northville back line couldn’t control, ending a 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-11 victory for Marian.
The win avenged top-ranked Marian’s only loss of the season, and gave the program its fifth Finals title.
“The biggest thing we talked about is that this is our home court,” Marian coach Mayssa Cook said. “Yes, we were the home team on the scoreboard, but we’ve been here now, our third year in a row, so this is our home court, and we knew we had that advantage. We had the experience of playing on this stage, in this gym. We know the way it smells, it looks, it feels, all that stuff.”
That experience came through in the third set, when Northville (47-4) looked to be in command, taking a 19-12 lead. The Kalamazoo Christian student section – waiting for its team to play in the Division 3 Final – had even joined the smaller group of students from Northville to put some more energy behind the Mustangs.
But Marian (49-1) got its own boost from the Pewamo-Westphalia students section, and rattled off seven straight points – six on the serve of senior Lauren Heming – to put Northville on its heels. Not long after, a pair of kills from Busignani closed out a 25-22 set and gave Marian a 2-1 lead.
“That’s not the first time that’s happened,” Marian senior setter Ava Sarafa said of the student section invasions. “Last year we were staying at the same hotel and we had multiple schools come and watch us from the stands. I thought the Marian students did a really good job of being loud, but adding that student section on both sides upped the amount of momentum that each team had. It didn’t increase the pressure, but it also just lightens the vibe and makes you really pumped up. It also fueled us a lot, having that extra support on our side.”
From there, Marian would roll, dominating the fourth set on its way to the title.
“I think they got mad,” Northville coach Sarah Lindstrom said of Marian. “A team like that, when they’re angry, is a scary team. You just kind of saw them realize, ‘We’re not going to let Northville do this to us.’ That’s at least how it felt for us. You have to give kudos to Mayssa for controlling their emotion and realizing a team that can be down to a team as good as mine, to get that many points and come back, you have to give credit to them.”
Busignani’s 27 kills led the Marian attack, and she also added 20 digs, tied for the team lead with Heming, who added four aces. Schomer added 14 kills and 17 digs, while Sarafa had 45 assists and 10 digs, and Molly Banta had 14 digs and three aces.
“Kids that don’t normally make spectacular digs and defensive plays were making them,” Cook said. “It was so beautiful to finally see us play the kind of defense – and I won’t name what schools – but there’s many times this season I said, ‘So and so plays defense like that,’ or ‘Their program is playing defense consistently point for point, there’s no reason we’re not, other than we’re choosing not to.’ It was so beautiful to see all our hitters be huge contributors in set 3 and 4, and all our defenders be contributors. Every kid went on a serving run. More than any year, this has felt like a true team effort.”
The Marian defense struggled to solve Northville star hitter Abby Reck early in the match, and she still managed to finish with 21 kills. But Marian eventually found a way.
“They started scrapping, they got a closed block,” Reck said. “We were out of system a lot. They started serving super aggressive, so our pass faltered a little bit. As soon as that happened, they can set up and it’s pretty hard to hit around. They’re a great team.”
Reck added 19 digs and three aces for Northville, which was making its first Finals appearance. Avry Nelson had 12 kills and three blocks, Taryn Rice had 20 digs, and Greta McKee and Ashlee Gnau each had 13.
PHOTOS (Top) Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Mckenzie Swanson (5) and Izzy Busignani (16) put up a block during the Mustangs’ Division 1 championship match win Saturday. (Middle) Northville’s Abby Reck (17) sends a kill attempt at Swanson and Ella Schomer (12). (Below) Marian celebrates its third-straight Finals victory.