It’s not a bold statement to say Kayla Nwabueze is a special talent.

The Bloomfield Hills senior showed that time and again during the 2025 season.

But, just how special a talent was she?

The more people you ask, the more that say Nwabueze is one of the all-time elite players the state has ever seen.

Farmington Hills Mercy coach Loretta Vogel has been on the sidelines for nearly 50 years and she said she’d put Nwabueze up there with anyone.

“She’s a fabulous young lady, and as an attack, I would put her up there in the top,” Vogel said when asked where Nwabueze ranks among the state’s all-time greats. “She got that team (Bloomfield Hills to the finals). I mean, they kept giving her the ball, and if I were the setter, I’d be doing the same thing. I don’t mean to belittle her other players, but sometimes if you really want to win big, you have to go to a go-to player and make them stop you. I think for me, after all these years of coaching, she is right up there, one of those top 10s for me. That’s a lot of years, a lot of girls I’ve seen, like the Carli Snyders, the Jess (Mruzik)s, a lot of people like that. She’s right there.”

The praise for Nwabueze, a Harvard commit, is understandable considering the senior year she put together, leading the Black Hawks to their first state finals appearance before losing to Mercy in four sets.

Nwabueze finished with 751 kills in 2025 while hitting .372 as an outside hitter. She also had 358 digs, making a commitment to being one of the top defenders for her team as well.

For her four-year career at Bloomfield Hills, Nwabueze put up numbers that will be hard for anyone to ever match. She had 2,217 kills, 1,127 digs, 396 blocks, and 179 aces.

Beyond the stats, Nwabueze’s teammates and coaches praised her leadership skills for helping change the program’s mentality.

“The leadership that Kayla has shown, from what I’ve only seen a year, the first day stepping in the gym, you can see the culture and the energy of all the players that were there,” first-year Bloomfield Hills coach Brian Kim said. “That was something that, even from day one for us, it was all about volleyball, and everybody was there to work hard. Everybody was there to have fun. It just made it extremely fun to come in and coach these athletes, every one of these athletes, every single day.”

Sophomore outside Allison Stakoe, who was second on the team in kills this past season, said Nwabueze has been a real mentor for her these last two years.

“Kayla has taught me so much about volleyball, mentally and emotionally and physically, about just staying in the game,” Stakoe said. “She’s really taught me so much these last few seasons. It’s terrible to see her leave, but I’m so excited to watch her at Harvard. I’m going to be rooting for her all the time. She’s just such an amazing player all around. She’s always there to empower you, and be in your corner, and always there to pump you up whenever you’re down.”

Junior setter Brynn Wilcox has had the pleasure of being the one to set Nwabueze these last three years. Wilcox knows that she got an opportunity to work with an elite talent.

“She’s, honestly, one of a kind. There’s nobody else in the country like Kayla,” Wilcox said. “She has the ability to lead each player in such a different way, and she knows exactly what each of her teammates needs. There’s nobody like that, and Harvard’s getting the best player. It’s going to be tough next year without her, but I know that her impact and her leadership, from her being a freshman all the way to now, has helped shape this program, and it’ll continue to live on even when she’s across the country.”

Nwabueze had her pick of the litter when it came to playing at the next level, but put an emphasis on her academics when choosing to play for Harvard.

Vogel believes the Ivy League is getting a player unlike anything it has ever seen.

“She will do really well in college. I know she’s going to Harvard. The academic portion is really big for her, but she could put that whole conference into the NCAA playoffs every year. I’m not kidding. I’ll put money on that,” Vogel said emphatically. “She will dominate, she will. She’s going to dominate there.”

HARTLAND – A volleyball coach probably would never admit to wanting to see their team drop the first two sets of a match.

But, South Lyon coach Deena Maher knows that dropping the first two sets to Brighton in Tuesday’s Division 1 regional semifinal at Hartland High School only made what happened next even sweeter.

The Lions fought off a match point in the third set, which sparked a three-set rally and gave South Lyon one of its biggest wins in program history by coming back to best the Bulldogs, 17-25, 15-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-12.

“I’m incredibly proud of them. I mean, we were a point away from our season being done, and we fought that off and came back with a win and pulled this off,” Maher said of her team. “It just speaks so much to how strong they are, both mentally and physically. They just never quit, and I’m so proud of them.

“It’s a huge win for us. All these girls are friends. They know each other, and I think it really speaks volumes about the South Lyon program and who we want to be.”

South Lyon (41-11-1) looked outmatched in the early stages of Tuesday’s contest with Brighton (34-9-2). The Bulldogs were producing powerful swings and their size at the net posed problems for the Lions’ offense.

Brighton took the first two sets in somewhat convincing fashion.

But, then things started to shift.

Brighton’s swings weren’t sustaining the same power as consistently, and South Lyon kept digging the ball up and making the Bulldogs play longer and longer points.

Brighton held a 24-23 lead in the third set, but the Lions won a lengthy rally and forced an attack error on the Bulldogs. Brighton would then commit two more errors on consecutive points to give South Lyon the set, 26-24.

“I feel like as a team, we all like, we all came together in the moment and just said, ‘nothing matters, just play for each other,’” South Lyon sophomore Julia Kavaliauskas said. “Then, I just feel like we all wanted it so bad.”

More of the same played out in the fourth. Brighton was getting a little slower and a little less enthusiastic. The Lions took advantage by utilizing a lot of different arms and making a lot of tough digs. Trailing 23-22, the Lions tied things up off a Brighton error, then junior Kate Sulkowski came through with a kill to put South Lyon ahead. Senior Lauren Chanko followed with an ace to force the fifth set.

“I did not sense frustration, which shows a lot of growth for us. Early in the season, we would have been really frustrated at that point,” Maher said. “But, they really just kind of had a mentality of just keep going, and gosh, that just paid off so well in the end.”

The Lions led throughout most of the fifth set, as they kept finding ways to win points. The key moment came with the Lions up 8-7, as senior setter Lucy Stoll ended a long rally with a great read and dumped the ball in the back right corner of Brighton. That sparked a 5-0 run to put South Lyon up 13-7.

Photo gallery from the D1 volleyball regional semifinal between South Lyon and Brighton

While Brighton made it interesting, the match concluded eventually on a kill from senior Teagan Wesner.

“(Brighton) came out with so much energy, and their energy lasted a lot longer than I thought it would,” Maher said. “They're such a good team, but I knew that we could outlast them in a five-set match. We've done it before. We've proven ourselves over and over in that sense, and I knew if we could just get to that point, that we could win. And we got there.”

South Lyon had a lot of balance offensively, with six players having five kills or more. Kennedy Duncan led the way with 16 kills, while Wesner, Sulkowski, and Kavaliauskas each had eight kills.

Setters Stoll and Mari Hardin combined for 44 assists.

Brighton was led by setter Delaney Gilmore, who had 53 assists. Cynthia Ockerman had 20 kills, while Madison Smith had 18, and Vivian Jones had 16.

The Lions advance to Thursday’s regional final where it will face third-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy at 7 p.m. from Hartland High School.

South Lyon met Mercy early in the season at a quad, where it lost a best-of-three in three sets. Maher knows her players will be ready for another upset attempt, and would have been alright starting the regional final on Tuesday night.

“They're ready to go,” Maher said of facing the Marlins. “I think I can put them on the court now.”

South Lyon defeated Brighton in a D1 regional semifinal volleyball match at Hartland High School on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. The Lions won by scores of 17-25, 15-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-12.

HARTLAND – Farmington Hills Mercy was having a block party at Hartland High School on Tuesday, but not many were invited to enjoy it with the Marlins.

Particularly, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.

No. 3 Mercy tallied 10 blocks against the Eaglets, while deflecting dozens more attacks, to secure a 25-9, 25-17, 25-13 win in the D1 regional semifinal.

“It’s something we’ve been working on,” Mercy coach Loretta Vogel said of the blocking. “We knew St. Mary’s had some hitters they like to go to, so that helped us know where we needed to be. But, our girls work hard on their blocking and their timing was really strong tonight.”

The blocks occurred early and often for Mercy, as four of their first six points came from a block.

Once the offense got going, the Marlins (39-5-3) were able to work the ball around to their deep roster of hitters, not giving the Eaglets (34-7-4) a chance to get in the set.

In the second set, Mercy got senior outside hitter Cree Hollier going. She had three quick kills to help Mercy establish a 7-1 lead. Hollier finished with eight kills in the set.

The senior has played middle for Mercy the last three years but transitioned to the outside this fall as it would best help the team.

“It’s definitely been a learning experience, learning a whole new position, but it’s been a lot of fun, and my teammates have just been awesome, as well as the coaches just guiding me through,” Hollier said of the shift to outside. “I think as the season has gone on, I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable.”

Despite being listed at 5’10”, Hollier’s vertical leap has allowed her to hold her own against anyone in the past, and is now even more impactful on the outside, where she believes she can get up to 10’2” or 10’3”.

“I actually started off as a DS. I didn’t start hitting until, like, my 14s or 15s. Here at Mercy volleyball was actually when I fully got into the middle. So, I’d say when I learned I could jump was definitely when I was like, ‘all right, I can compete with them.’ But even that was also just a learning experience,” Collier said of her ability to play against longer competition.

In the third set, Mercy was able to get out to a 9-1 lead and never gave the Eaglets a chance to get back into the match.

Photos of No. 3 Farmington Hills Mercy vs. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in a D1 volleyball regional semifinal

The Marlins had their full complement of players back this week after freshman setter Kaelyn Easton and sophomore middle McKenzie Andrews competed for Team USA’s U17 squad in the 2025 NORCECA Women’s U17 Continental Championship in Costa Rica last week, winning gold.

Easton finished with 30 assists, while Andrews had five kills and three blocks.

“They got a couple US national kids on the team, and they got about nine or 10 D1 kids,” OLSM coach Ross Talbott said of playing Mercy. “They’ve been around, I don't know how many years, you know, and our program has been around just five years. We'll get there. We move up in their league next year. We're going to get better and better and better.”

Hollier finished with 13 kills to lead the offense, while Kate Kalczynski had nine kills and three aces. Ella Andrews added four kills, four aces, and two blocks.

The Eaglets were led by junior Avery Kapeller and junior Katelynn Dabish, who each had six kills.

OLSM graduates just three from this roster, which won 37 matches, a CHSL title, and a district championship.

“We'll just keep rebuilding. We just need to catch up in years,” Talbott said of growing the program to the level of Mercy. “We just need to catch up to Mercy and Marian, and it will take some time to build a program. I think there's a foundation already there.”

Mercy advances to Thursday’s regional final where it will face South Lyon. The Lions defeated Brighton in five sets in Thursday’s other semifinal. The two will meet up at Hartland High School at 7 p.m.

TROY – Down a set and facing a 24-20 deficit in the second set of its Division 1 district final with Birmingham Marian, it’s like a light went off in the head of Bloomfield Hills senior Kayla Nwabueze on Friday night.

Nwabueze would spark a 6-point rally with four kills to push the Black Hawks to a 26-24 win in the second set and completely shift the momentum of the game.

From there, the Black Hawks took the next two sets behind a match-high 29 kills from their Miss Volleyball finalist, as No. 2 Bloomfield Hills topped No. 4 Marian 18-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-21 at Troy Athens High School.

“I was just telling myself that this could possibly be my last game, and I need to just go out hard, and I need to go out with the bang,” Nwabueze said of her mindset to close the second that. “My mental space just changed.”

Bloomfield Hills (39-6-1) didn’t hide its strategy once it started to work. They set Nwabueze everywhere on the floor and challenged the Mustangs to stop her.

“I think everybody saw that Kayla got a little bit hot. I think the setter found the hot hitter for sure,” Bloomfield Hills coach Brian Kim said. “We were fortunate to be able to come back in that second set and then just ride that momentum into sets three and four.”

Nwabueze, a Harvard commit, put down another eight kills in the third set, then nine in the fourth to wrap up the match. Her final two kills came from the back row to push the Black Hawks to a 24-21 advantage.

“She is by far the best hitter in the state. Honestly, she’s the best hitter I’ve ever seen in the state,” Marian coach Mayssa Cook said of Nwabueze. “In all the years I’ve coached, nobody, in my opinion, that we’ve ever played, even touches her as far as talent goes.”

Marian (44-6) started fast, taking a 5-1 lead in the first and never trailed to pick up a 25-18 win. In the second set, the Mustangs would lead 8-1, but eight service errors in the frame opened the door for Bloomfield Hills to rally, which it did.

“It didn’t help that we missed eight serves. In the second set, we missed eight serves. We had a seven-point lead twice. We were still up 24-20 and missing those serves at critical moments got (Nwabueze) to the front row quickly,” Cook said.

Nwabueze felt the momentum shift after that second set, as it seemed to put the Mustangs on their heels, while her teammates started to play with more confidence.

“I definitely did,” Nwabueze said on if she felt the momentum changed after the second set. “I was really happy that my team started riding behind me, and our whole energy just flipped.”

It wasn’t just Nwabueze’s play on the court that helped turn the tide. She was the first to speak in each huddle, and she was coaching up her teammates following the first set, telling them to remain confident. To Kim, that just defines why she’s more than just an on-court leader.

“Her leadership really shows, and everybody on the team, I think even spectators, everybody can see what kind of leader that she really is,” Kim said of Nwabueze. “As hard as she plays, everybody else follows her lead. So, she’s really something special.”

When the match concluded, Nwabueze and her teammates collapsed to the floor in joy. When the district trophy was handed out to Kim, he immediately walked it toward his senior star.

“It was definitely a feeling of relief that we didn’t have to keep fighting anymore,” Nwabueze said of seeing the final point. “We didn’t have to take it further than we needed to, and that we got the job done.”

Aiding Nwabueze and the Black Hawks in the win was junior setter Brynn Wilcox, who recorded 43 assists. Freshman Emily Nwabueze, the sister of Kayla, added seven kills while sophomore Allison Stakoe had four.

Photo gallery from the D1 volleyball district final between Bloomfield Hills and Marian

Marian was led by senior setter Allie Davison, who had 34 assists and five aces. Junior Sophia Smith recorded 15 kills, while sophomore Quinn Nelson had 10 kills with four aces.

The Mustangs will graduate four from their 2025 roster, but will return a loaded roster once again for the 2026 season.

“Wanting it is one thing, showing it is another thing,” Cook said of her team. “I know we wanted it. We've worked hard all season. We've been a top-five, maybe even top-four, team all season. It sucks that we saw them in districts, for sure, because we are better than a team that loses in districts. But ultimately, you have to show up and play who is in front of you. Bloomfield Hills brought their A+ game against us.”

The Black Hawks will now head to Marian next week for regional play. They open up with a regional semifinal against Grosse Pointe South at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

“There are a lot of players on the team that had to step up in different moments. So, every player on the team contributed throughout the season,” Kim said. “We’re excited to see how this season goes.”

Bloomfield Hills defeated Birmingham Marian 18-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-21 in a Division 1 district volleyball final at Troy Athens High School on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025.

Nwabueze wills Bloomfield Hills to 4-set district championship win over Marian

OXFORD – When you step inside the Oxford High School gymnasium and look up at the volleyball championships banner, it seems like it must be a misprint.

The last district title for the Wildcats came in 2002?

Though it didn’t seem like 23 years had passed, it actually had.

It was something that stuck with first-year head coach Jen Bunting when she took over the program this fall, and she used it as motivation throughout the season.

That was definitely the driving force this week with Oxford hosting districts, as the Wildcats followed up a five-set semifinal win over Lake Orion on Wednesday with a dramatic five-set win over Clarkston on Thursday in the final to give Oxford its first district championship since 2002.

“This is my first year as varsity coach and I saw (the Volleyball banner), and I made our slogan this year on the back of our shirts say, ‘it was our year,’ because it is our year,” Bunting said. “I don’t even know what to say right now. I’m just in awe, but the girls fought for it. They started strong, and they finished strong. This means so much to me.”

The Oxford roster wasn’t even born the last time the Wildcats managed to win a district title, but Thursday they came away with a 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, 12-25, 15-12 victory.

After dropping the first set, the Wildcats (25-12-5) found a groove and took the momentum away from Clarkston (23-5-1). The Wolves struggled to finish points as Oxford’s blocking and defensive play kept rallies going before the Wildcats found ways to capitalize.

“We knew it was a quick tempo with the setter, the setter pushing those quicks out to the outside. I just said, ‘arms up, fast. Let’s get a block on it.’ We started blocking the line. We adjusted. I adjusted my defense around there. I have a strong middle back, left back. So, we focused blocking the line to take away that line shot, because I knew my defense on the left side was solid to dig anything that they were giving to us,” Bunting said of the defensive approach.

Oxford took the second and third sets to put Clarkston with its back against the wall. But, the Wolves responded in the fourth by scoring the final eight points thanks to a pair of kills from Kaylynn Johnson and Josie Seets, each, as well as two aces from Stella Smith.

The dominant fourth set could have shaken Oxford, but the Wildcats came out with a 4-0 start in the fifth set and never trailed in the final frame.

“We needed to be humble out there. We needed to play with pride, play with our minds and our hearts, and just be a team out there, and they pulled together,” Bunting said of what she told her team going into the fifth set.

The set would get to 8-8, but Oxford scored six of the next seven points to take control. Mazzee VanderKaay had two key aces, while the Wildcats won a long rally at 12-9 when Sienna Austin instinctively threw an arm out to keep the ball alive, and it found its way to the floor on Clarkston’s side. At that point, the title felt inevitable.

“We weren’t looking past them. I mean, they’re playing great volleyball. We played them early in the season and were able to get a win and, but they’ve been playing very good lately,” Clarkston coach Ali Smith said of Oxford. “They battled their butts off last night against Lake Orion, and they just find ways to keep the ball in play, and I think that was the difference tonight.”

Photo gallery of a D1 district volleyball final between Clarkston and Oxford

Clarkston fought off three match points but an attack error ended things and gave the Wildcats the win. The Wolves struggled to maintain an offensive flow throughout the match. When they were able to get in a grove, the Wolves pulled away in the first and fourth sets.

“I just thought our execution over the course of the entire night was very inconsistent, so it was really hard to really tell what we were going to get at any given moment,” Smith said.

Tara Swanson and Brenna Mirovsky led the defensive effort for Oxford with dozens of timely digs to keep points alive. Olivia Laura and Ellasyn Glaz each had three blocks in the win as well. Offensively, Mirovsky had 13 kills, while Alexia Decker had seven. VanderKaay recorded four aces, while Jessa Romine had three.

Maya Kuebler had 17 kills to lead Clarkston, while Johnson had 12 kills, and Seets had 10. Marlie Smith had 42 assists with five kills and three aces.

The Wolves will graduate four seniors from this roster but bring back a lot of experience in the 2026 season. Smith is hoping her players will carry Thursday’s loss with them into offseason training.

“I hope they remember this feeling for a long time, and it is fuel for the fire for next year,” Smith said. “I feel like every year we come back with something to prove, and unfortunately, if three points go a different way, we're in a different position. But, you know, just not our year.”

Oxford advances to next week’s Division 1 regional tournament at Clarkston. The Wildcats draw Chippewa Valley in Tuesday’s regional semifinal at 5:30 p.m.

Now the Wildcats can focus on ending a new streak, as they haven’t won a regional championship since 1997.

“Just keep being the team. Teamwork, trusting each other, trusting the team, and keep pushing hard,” Bunting said of advancing in regional play.

Oxford defeated Clarkston in a Division 1 district volleyball final at Oxford High School on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. The Wildcats won by scores of 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, 12-25, 15-12.

MILFORD – After returning most of its 2024 roster this fall, the South Lyon volleyball team wasn’t shy when it came to one of its key goals.

That was winning the Lakes Valley Conference for the first time in program history.

While the season is still young, the Lions took a big step toward that goal on Tuesday night, besting Milford 25-20, 25-19, 25-20 to establish themselves as the lone remaining unbeaten LVC team.

“It’s something we talk about every year, but we really want it this year,” South Lyon coach Deena Maher said of the LVC title. “We are going to fight for it, and this was a big win for us toward achieving that goal. There’s a lot of matches still to play, but we are excited to see what happens.”

Milford (12-3-1, 3-1 LVC) came into the match with a win over the two-time defending conference champions, South Lyon East. The Mavericks were looking to take command of the league, but the Lions had other ideas.

Each set was competitive, but the Lions (17-5, 2-0) utilized a surge late in each set to keep the Mavericks at bay. In the first, a 6-1 rally with the score at 18-16 propelled the Lions toward the win. Junior Kennedy Duncan had three kills in the rally to start a strong night for herself.

“Kennedy is really stepping up as a leader for us this year,” Maher said of Duncan. “She continues to grow her game and is finding the open shots for us. I am really proud of her growth.”

In the second set it was another junior, Kate Sulkowski, who came through with some timely kills down the stretch to put South Lyon up two sets.

In the final set, the Lions scored five straight when the score was tied 16-16 to help themselves pull away. Duncan had another two kills and a block during the stretch.

Closing sets have been a big emphasis for South Lyon, as the Lions suffered most of their losses this year to ranked teams, coming up just a few points shy of pulling out the wins.

“We love playing top competition because it really helps us as a team,” Maher said. “We had some close losses to good teams early on and I think it showed us what we needed to work on, and we’ve been able to grow from that.”

Photo gallery of Milford vs. South Lyon in LVC volleyball action

The growth of the team also is a credit to the play of senior setter Lucy Stoll. She has over 350 assists on the season following Tuesday’s win where she spread the ball out well to the Lions’ capable hitters.

“Lucy is amazing. She’s not afraid of anything” Maher said of her senior setter. “She can handle anything that is thrown at her. She gives a good sense of calm to her teammates and she’s helped build that in our program.”

Duncan capitalized the most from Stoll’s play with 15 kills, while Sulkowski had seven kills with two blocks and two aces. Sophomore Julia Kavaliauskas added six kills.

Milford was led by junior Lexa Pierson, who had 17 kills, while junior Brynlei Gunn had six kills and a block.

South Lyon will look to maintain its hold on the LVC lead on Thursday when it hosts Walled Lake Western. The Lions still have an upcoming slate with rival South Lyon East on Oct. 7, but the team is very motivated to finish the job in the conference race after finishing second to the Cougars in 2024.

“We were really close last year, so the team has been really focused on winning the conference,” Stoll said. “We have a lot of players back from last year and we feel we are a much stronger team now. We just want to keep playing at a high level and get to that title.”

South Lyon defeated Milford in a battle of Lakes Valley Conference unbeatens on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. The Lions prevailed 25-20, 25-19, 25-20 at Milford High School.