ORCHARD LAKE — Mayssa Cook reminded me about an observation I made last fall about her Bloomfield Hills Marian volleyball team.
We were sitting on St. Mary’s fieldhouse bleachers after the Catholic High School League meeting of fall sports coaches had adjourned last Tuesday.
“I’ve never forgotten it,” the coach said. “You wrote, ‘Considering there are no seniors on the team, you should be very good next year.’”
Cook recalled her response: “I don’t know why you’re talking about next year. This year’s not over, and we have a mission, we have a goal.”
She shared her exasperation with the team, something she made a habit of doing on numerous occasions during the season: “This is what this reporter said. Can you believe it?”
Amidst the celebration when Marian decisively beat Lowell for the 2020 Division 1 state championship, she referenced the incident explaining, “We grab little things as coaches, and we use it as fuel to push them to go beyond their comfort zone.”
Well, “this reporter” has some “fuel” for the 2021 campaign: “Mayssa and girls, you will repeat as CHSL and state champions.”
“I pray that you’re correct,” the coach replied. “I have confidence in my team that probably they are the favorites, yet we don’t take anything for granted. They are a very special group of girls, not only in volleyball skills, but in attitude, leadership, character.
“During the summer, there’s not really much talk about another state title. They’re focused on improving collectively as a team bettering ourselves. They know there’s a lot of great talent across the state, yet they’re working just as hard. They’re not assuming anything. If they want it, they’re working for it all ready.”
Cook continued:
“There’s a joke going around that we’re going to get shirts with targets printed on the back. Marian has a tradition of winning in volleyball. It may not have as many state champions as other schools in the state, yet traditionally we are one of the top volleyball programs. That’s something I talk to my kids about. We are a target, we respect every opponent, we bring our ‘A’ game to every match. We don’t overlook anybody.”
“It was an emotional roller coaster,” Cook said about last year.
On Oct. 28, Marian beat archrival Farmington Hills Mercy for the first time in three years in five sets for the CHSL crown. The two squads met again two weeks later in the regionals, Marian prevailing once more in another five-set nail-biter.
The MHSAA imposed back-to-back three-week suspensions of high school athletics until Jan. 4. Athletes, coaches and other team personnel directly involved in practice and competition underwent COVID-19 testing three times a week.
“The players were walking on eggshells fearful of being tested positive,” Cook said. “We had a team of only 10 players. We developed what we called our ‘volleyball bubble.’ We made a commitment to each other to have no contact with anyone outside our team and families.”
Finally, on Jan. 15, the Mustangs held off Clarkston in another five-set match in the semifinals and won it all the next day in three sets against Lowell.
The celebration was tempered by the news that two days earlier beloved Marian athletic director Dave Feldman had died after a long battle with COVID-19. “We know he’s definitely smiling and jumping around up in heaven,” one of the players said.
Cook said the team this year will consist of four seniors, five juniors, a sophomore and others added after tryouts.
“Our seniors are true leaders,” Cook said. Ava Brizard (committed to North Carolina State), Sarah Sylvester (Texas Christian) and Sophia Treder (Brown) are co-captains. Janiah Jones is in the process of making a final decision.
“Brizard is a standout,” said Cook. “The energy she brings to the court is unmatched. Yet she is such a great player and teammate. In many ways she has helped build this team. Every player on this team feels important. I think that comes from her leadership style. She always has been this way from day one as a freshman on the varsity and up to now as a senior.”
A 6-foot-1 outside hitter, she was named the 2020-21 Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year, the third chosen from Marian in 12 years. The other winners were Alex Lovell (2010-11) and Rachel Charles (2009-10). She starts her senior year with a three-year record of 1,536 kills and 1,340 digs.
Brizard, Sylvester and Treder were members of the Michigan Elite 17 Mizuno squad that finished runner-up in the17 Open of the AAU Junior National Championships in Orlando in June. Brizard was named an Open All American.
“We’re excited about the season,” Cook said. “We’re excited it appears we’re going to have a more normal season.”
Normal? Hardly.
“I am due the exact week of the playoffs (Nov. 15-20),” she said. She and her husband James anticipate adding a son to join their daughters, ages 2 and 4.
“I have promised my team that I would find a way to keep the baby in there until the 21st (day after the state final) as long as they keep their part of the bargain and make it to Battle Creek (where the championship is played).”
She added: “They know this is a total joke. We laugh about it.”
Cook is in her fourth year at Marian after four years at Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard, where she directed the Fighting Irish to the 2015 Class B state title.
“I have such a phenomenal varsity coaching staff,” Cook said. “They don’t need me. I don’t know if this team needs me. They are such great kids who look out for each other.”
However, she persuaded her high school coach at Dearborn, Diane Phillips, to join the Mustangs crew.
Phillips, recently inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, has won 1,050 games in 36 years at Pontiac Catholic (1982-1988) and Dearborn (1989-2017).
Maybe, an obstetrician, too?
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected]
