Written Thursday October 28th at 11:10 AM
Updated Saturday October 30th at 10:30 AM
Birmingham Marian is the defending Division One State Champions in Volleyball.
They have gotten a ton of press in the State rankings and even made multiple appearances on State Champs.
Birmingham Marian is very talented led by Sarah Sylvester, Ava Brizard, Ava Sarafa, Gabi Hock, among others. They also have program strength as well.
I have seen the highlights from the Beast of the East Tournament, their games against Farmington Hills Mercy, and the Catholic League tournament. They have been dominant all season. I have seen the praise, they are very good. There is a reason why they are the top team in Division One.
They have the talent to repeat as Division One State Champions and have the confidence to back it up.
They are the favorite to win it all.
Sometimes though having too much confidence is very dangerous.
They have the perfect makings of Anakin Skywalker from Star
Wars. He a cunning warrior. Skywalker was deemed “The Hero with No Fear” in Star Wars Revenge of the Sith in
both the movie and the book.
I took some passages from the novel “Star Wars Revenge of the Sith” by Matthew Stover, to which describes the Mustangs and the similarities are quite familiar.
Here are a few of them.
“The dark is generous and it is patient, it is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drops contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt. The dark can be patient because the slightest drop of rain will cause those seeds to sprout. The rain will come and the seeds will sprout for the dark is the soil in which they grow and it is the clouds above them and it waits behind the star that gives them light. The dark’s patience is infinite, eventually stars burn out.”
I’m pretty sure that the players and Coach Mayssa Cook welcomes this role of being the hunted. They were the hunters last season which saw them beat Farmington Hills Mercy, Clarkston, and Lowell on route to the Division One State title.
The Mustangs have certainly earned their rank thus far with their play.
However with that success, the dangers and fears are out there. Some in the media have already started to crown them as back to back State Champions even though the postseason hasn't begun yet.
The Mustangs are in a very tough district despite having home court however Farmington Hills Mercy, Seaholm, and Bloomfield Hills should provide tough challenges even though they are on the other side of the district. They host Farmington in the district semifinals before facing one of the three top teams mentioned in the district final.
Should they win the district then a real difficult challenge awaits once they get to the regional.
Birmingham Marian could clash with host Novi in a regional semifinal. The Wildcats were a final four team last season. The Mustangs were the two time MHSAA Class A. State Champions in 2011 and was pretty much rolling into the regional semifinals. They played Lake Orion in the regional semifinals at Lake Orion. The Dragons used the home court advantage and stunned Birmingham Marian in four games and earned their way to the regional finals. The crowd and the atmosphere was pretty intense. I announced that match and remember losing my voice while announcing during the fourth set of that game. It's very difficult to play an actual road game in a hostile environment in the postseason, that’s what happened to the Mustangs that night. It could be the same feeling if Birmingham Marian and Novi meet in front of the Wildcats home crowd in the regional semifinals.
If Birmingham Marian were to win that match then they would likely see a Red heavyweight in either Lake Orion or Clarkston in the regional finals. Both teams are really stout even though the Mustangs had their way with both teams during the regular season. The Wolves were also in the final four last season and fell to the Mustangs in the Division One State semifinals in four games.
All of it pending though if all four teams makes it to regionals.
If they get by the regional then they could see possibly Hudsonville, Rockford, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, or Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in the later rounds.
Birmingham Marian should expect to get everyone’s best shot in the postseason.
The Mustangs have risen to the challenge thus far.
But the postseason is a different animal.
The Mustangs remind me of Anakin Skywalker “The Hero with No Fear” with everything they have accomplished however what happened to Skywalker in the novel and movie was that he let doubt and fear get to him which eventually clouded his mind and made him turn to the dark side of the force and become Darth Vader.
“The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins but in the heart of strength lies weakness. One lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars” said Stover in the last passage of the book.
It’s much better to be the hunter and not the hunted.
Birmingham Marian is certainly the hunted and one match could end the season if they are not careful.
We shall see what happens.
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