Battle Creek will see champions crowned this weekend in volleyball, as the best teams in Michigan converge on Kellogg Arena.
Semifinals will be played Thursday and Friday, while Saturday will see four teams come away with a state championship. The Division 1 and Division 4 semifinals are Thursday. Semifinals in divisions 2 and 3 will be Friday.
Can't make it to Battle Creek? You can still follow along with all the action thanks to live streaming of semifinal and state championship matches on mhsaa.tv.
The big-school divisions are sending some fresh faces to Battle Creek this year. Farmington Hills Mercy (Division 1) and North Branch (Division 2) won state titles last year but are not making the trip this year. Mercy lost in the regional semifinal to Northville. North Branch fell in five sets Tuesday to Country Day.
So a lot of teams find a door open to a state title, with Bloomfield Hills Marian, Northville, Rockford and Fenton still in the hunt in Division 1 and Tecumseh, Essexville Garber, Battle Creek Harper Creek and Country Day battling for the Division 2 crown.
Marian won three straight state titles from 2020-2022 before that streak was snapped last year. Rockford made title-game appearances in 2016 and 2018 but is looking for its first state title since winning the Class A crown in 2011.
A state title by Northville, Fenton or Rockford would snap the Oakland County hegemony over the Class A/Division 1 title which has lasted since Novi dethroned Romeo in 2015.
Meanwhile for the small schools, reigning champions Kalamazoo Christian (Division 3) and Clarkston Everest Collegiate are back for more. Kalamazoo Christian will face Traverse City St. Francis in Friday's semifinal, a rematch of the 2023 title game the Comets won in four sets.
Monroe St. Mary also makes a return trip after a semifinal loss to Kalamazoo Christian in 2023. Cass City is in the Final Four for the third straight year.
Clarkston Everest Collegiate is joined in the Division 4 semifinals by 2022 state champion Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart, back at Kellogg Arena after falling in the quarterfinal to Leland last year.
The Country Day Yellowjackets are in the state semifinals for the first time ever after making the quarterfinals for just the second time ever (2021 was the first). Miss Volleyball finalist Olivia Grenadier was on that 2021 team and she went on to set the school record for kills in a season with 367 in 2022 as a sophomore. Country Day was behind, 0-2, against usual power North Branch in the quarterfinals but stormed back to win the final three sets. Grenadier had 31 kills in the win while outside hitter Elise Hiemstra had 24 kills.
It's no surprise Everest Collegiate is a favorite. Ranked No. 1 in Division 4, the Mountaineers have 12 of the 13 girls from last year's championship roster back this fall. Sarah Bradley and Madelyn Krappmann were both top outside hitters last year and that hasn't changed. Bradley had 31 kills in the five-set championship match last year, which is No. 3 all-time in Class A/Division 4 matchups. Erica Walker had 57 assists last year in the title game and that was No. 2 all-time across all divisions in championship matches.
The Upper Peninsula is still awaiting its first state champion since the two peninsulas were unified in one state-wide tournament in the winter of 2000. Last year Forest Park reached Battle Creek, falling to Leland in a Division 4 semifinal. This year Hancock makes the trip down from the Keweenaw. The Bulldogs come in 25-6-2, though the quarterfinal win over Atlanta was their first match against a Lower Peninsula team this season.
Emma Eldred, Tecumseh
Eldred had 18 kills and 19 digs in the quarterfinal win over Divine Child, that coming on the heels of a 15-kill night in the regional title win over Parma Western.
Jeana Lenhard, Essexville Garber
Lenhard had 24 kills on Tuesday as Garber, who won its first regional title this year, punched a ticket to state in a win over Fruitport. She also had 47 kills in four sets in the regional final.
The Miss Volleyball finalist had 66 assists in the regional semifinals against Farmington Hills Mercy, which, once reviewed, might land her at the No. 7 spot in the state record book. She puts up big numbers setting for twin sisters Molly and Mallory Reck. Mallory had 22 kills and Molly 19 against Mercy.
With a powerful swing which kept Pewamo-Westphalia off balance much of the night in Tuesday's Division 3 quarterfinal, de Jong had 18 kills.
Busignani helped the Mustangs reach the Final Four for the 15th time with 24 kills in a quarterfinal win over Utica Eisenhower. She had 27 kills in the 2022 state title game when Marian beat Northville.
Ignash, a 6-foot hitter committed to Texas Tech, is a four-year starter and a Miss Volleyball finalist.