By gqlshare | gqlshare@digitalfirstmedia.com in Oakland Press

 

RIVER ROUGE — On the heels of collecting district championships last week, Farmington Hills Mercy and Dearborn High squared off against one another in a Division 1 regional semifinal round matchup Tuesday at River Rouge High School.

Mercy last week won its second district title in as many seasons after taking care of Livonia Stevenson in four sets in the finals. Dearborn meanwhile won its first district title in four years after defeating KLAA foe Livonia Churchill in four sets.

The Pioneers were hoping to pull off a shocker and advance to their first regional championship match in over a decade. Instead, it was the perennial power Marlins from Mercy inching one step closer to potentially competing for a state championship with a convincing sweep (25-6, 25-10, 25-10).

Despite it being a one-sided affair, the game was beneficial on multiple fronts for Mercy head coach Loretta Vogel.

“In a game like this, we were able to work on some of the little things,” Vogel said. “We worked on trying to speed up the tempo of our offense. This was that kind of scenario we were pretty much looking for. And we were able to get a lot of players in.

“A couple of the girls when they got in did some really nice things.”

Mercy flexed their muscles early and often in this one. It started with scoring five of the first six points in the opening set, forcing Dearborn to call an early timeout.

The Marlins ended up closing out game one on a 10-2 spurt, a trend they matched to finish sets two and three en route to the convincing victory.

To Vogel’s point, it was a collective effort start to finish for Mercy, who was able to dip into their bench early and often for contributions. But the bulk of the work came from junior standout Campbell Flynn, who was busy setting up the likes of Kate Kalczynski, Cree Hollier, and Ava Fitzgerald for point opportunities on the outside and over the middle.

“Everyone is really working hard all season long,” Vogel said. “It’s great seeing a lot of those individuals come off the bench, into the game, and actually do the kind of work they put in.”

Vogel described this year’s Mercy squad as “well-blended” with a mix of veterans and rising stars. Campbell and Fitzgerald, for example, are juniors. Hollier is a sophomore and Kalczynski is a freshman.

The Marlins have just two seniors on their roster this fall.

Dearborn head coach Florin Vescan declined to comment on the record after the match.

The season-ending loss is a rare blemish to what was otherwise a strong finish to the season for the Pioneers, who had won nine of their previous 11 matches coming into play on Tuesday.

UP NEXT –

Mercy is back in the regional final round of the state playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Up next for the Marlins is a date with Allen Park, who in the first semifinal on Tuesday outlasted their DRL rivals Trenton in an emotional five-set thriller to return to the regional title round for a second consecutive season.

“I think what I always strive for is for us to play consistent,” Vogel said. “We’ll come out and know what kind of defense we want to run (vs Allen Park). And serving strong, I think those are high-level situations that you need to look at.”

Game time is set for Thursday, November 9 at 6:00p back at River Rouge High School.