Mercy volleyball completes remarkable comeback for Division 1 State Title

FARMINGTON HILLS — Farmington Hills Mercy coach Loretta Vogel and her squad finally had a chance to catch their breath after Mercy (32-15-3) defeated Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern in five sets at the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 State Championship Nov. 18 at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek.

As surreal as the moment was, the 24-hour journey beforehand was one the team will never forget.

“As soon as we won and beat Clarkston (in the state semifinals), it’s like, ‘OK, we have less than 12 hours to get everyone ready for another big game (the state finals),’” Vogel said. “It was watching filming, who you’re going to look at and who does what, and watching tendencies, and we never had a moment to just take a deep breath until everything was over.”

Mercy felt prepared and confident for the matchup, but a Marlins team that lost only one set all throughout the state tournament quickly found themselves down 2-0.

From their serve receives to their passing, Forest Hills Northern executed everything to perfection early on while Mercy’s lackluster performance in the first set led to 25-13 loss. The second set was a different story as Mercy was able to facilitate their passes more efficiently, but Forest Hills Northern still came out with the 25-23 win in the second set.

Down 2-0, Mercy senior Angie Butler said the second set showed flashes of what the team needed to do to succeed.

“We had a game plan coming in,” Butler said. “I don’t think we executed it well at all until the end of the second set, so I think being able to build on that momentum that the plan would work if we execute it. Also, we have a very energetic team, so I think our bench helped out a lot. When we came off the court after the second set, our spirits were a little low, and I think our team really stepped up in helping us reset and keep pushing on throughout the game.”

Mercy’s ball distribution, courtesy of Nebraska commit and first team all-State honoree Campbell Flynn, improved drastically as the Marlins put Forest Hills Northern on their heels.

Flynn may be the player teams game-plan around on a game-to-game basis, but her floor general role in the state finals set up a multitude of her teammates to thrive on the biggest stage.

“I thought Campbell (Flynn) started distributing the ball,” Vogel said. “I go, ‘Even if you get blocked, bring it up and let’s do it again.’ I think it opened up some situations for Cree (Hollier) in the middle, and we got the ball more to Angie (Butler) on the right side. I think it was helpful for us that we got their defense to scramble a little bit more.”

Flynn, a junior, tallied 41 assists in the state finals, while freshman Kate Kalczynski, a second team all-State honoree, tallied a game-high 25 kills. Hollier, a sophomore, contributed 10 kills, while Butler added seven kills and 22 digs in the win. Butler had been nursing a torn meniscus since the second day of tryouts this year, forcing her to miss games periodically throughout the season.

Butler was one of many Mercy players who had battle injuries or illnesses this season, so the state title was a breath of fresh air for the battered and bruised Marlins.

“It meant a lot,” Butler said. “We all went through a lot this season. We had a lot of different speed bumps on the way, so just to end on a win meant the world.”

Mercy won back-to-back sets, 25-21 and 25-22, and would close out the state finals on a 15-12 win in the final set.

Junior Jillian Collins had a team-high 24 digs, while sophomore Maya Zarow tallied 16 and Flynn 15.

Mercy’s state finals win couldn’t come without a hard-fought win over Catholic League rival Bloomfield Hills Marian, who Mercy bested in the state quarterfinals.

Marian was the three-time defending state champion and had eliminated Mercy from the state tournament two out of the last three years prior to Mercy’s state championship title in 2019, so to say the win over Marian was a confidence boost would be understating it.

“Every time we play Marian, the preparation is a little bit different,” Hollier said. “We scouted them two days before we played them, and our practice was designated towards them. When we got to the game, we knew what we wanted to do and we knew how to do it.”

Mercy will have a strong core of starters next season as only two seniors are set to graduate, but as always, the Mercy culture and set of expectations will remain the same.

The past five Division 1 state champions have come from the Catholic League, and who knows, maybe Mercy can get a title streak going of their own like their Catholic League counterpart Marian.