Marian sweeps South Lyon to be last Oakland County team standing in D1

WEST BLOOMFIELD The Birmingham Marian volleyball team secured a fifth consecutive Division 1 regional championship on Thursday when it defeated South Lyon at West Bloomfield High School.

However, the Mustangs also placed themselves into another unique distinction in the process.

By defeating the Lions 25-20, 25-15, 25-17, Marian became the last Oakland County team standing in the Division 1 postseason.

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Going back further, the county has won nine straight D1/Class A state championships, with Marian collecting three of those from 2020-22.

Now, Marian will look to extend that honor next week when it enters the D1 quarterfinal.

Its awesome to be the one representing our county, Marian coach Mayssa Cook said.

Hopefully we can keep it going.

Fourth-ranked Marian (44-7) had trouble pulling away from the Lions (28-10-3) in the opening set.

South Lyons middles and defenders kept the ball from hitting the floor, forcing Marian to take multiple swings over and over.

We are such a young team, so this is a great experience for my team, South Lyon coach Deena Maher said.

Marian is such a great program.

I am thrilled we got the chance to play them in this setting.

I am really proud of all my girls and how they battled.

Eventually Marian grabbed a 21-13 lead in the first, but the Lions scored six straight to cut it to 21-19.

The Mustangs regrouped from there and utilized senior Chloe Giehtbrock to put away a pair of kills and help wrap up the set.

In the second set, Marian fired back with its middle, Jayla Zayti.

She had four kills and a block to help the Mustangs take a 15-8 lead.

Cook noted that Zayti will be a key moving forward for the Mustangs.

One of the things that is going to help carry us through the rest of the season is having (Zayti) be that middle presence that you saw at times tonight, and against Clarkston on Tuesday, Cook said.

With the lead, Marian turned to Miss Volleyball finalist, Isabelle Busignani, to take over.

She put down eight kills in the set, including one on a bump to put the set away, 25-15.

In the third, the Mustangs spread the ball out to eventually pull away from the Lions.

South Lyon was up 11-10 in the set, but Marian went on a 11-2 rally to secure the title, the fifth straight for the Mustangs.

The team has been playing without sophomore outside Calli LeFevre for the last four weeks.

With that, Marian is looking to secure more hitting options for the challenges ahead.

LeFevre could return next week, but Cook is happy to have options ready to step up.

Were definitely doing a nice job of spreading the ball around, Cook said.

Were getting kills from both pins, were getting our middles involved a lot more.

Our serve receive this season, especially in this last month of the season, has been quite consistent.

Even our defense, weve been a lot more scrappy the last month of the season.

Things have been starting to click as far as chemistry goes.

Busignani finished with 18 kills to lead the offense while Zayti, Giehtbrock and Sophia Smith each had five.

Junior setter Allie Davison tallied 28 assists, three blocks and two kills.

South Lyon was led by sophomore Kennedy Duncan, who had 10 kills.

Sophomore Kate Sulkowski added seven, while junior Teagan Wesner had five.

Junior Lucy Stoll and sophomore Mari Hardin combined for 24 assists.

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We are still growing, Maher said of her program.

My seniors have been a huge part of this growth and they have helped us out so much.

But, we also have a large group coming back.

I couldnt have asked for more from all of them and it makes me very excited about the future.

I hope these girls are going to be hungry for more.

Marian will go on to play seventh-ranked Utica Eisenhower on Tuesday in the D1 quarterfinal at St.

Clair County Community College at 7 p.m.

The Mustangs have suffered a pair of losses to Eisenhower during the season, leaving Cook with plenty of motivation for her team heading into the match.

The plan is to avenge those two losses that, in my opinion, we should not have lost, Cook said..

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