Brizard’s work ethic pushes her to top of 2022 rankings
The Class of 2022 looks like it could be one of Michigan’s best in some time. Headlined by endless potential, this class is likely to features some major Division 1 college players in the years to come. We released our…
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Continue ReadingThe Class of 2022 looks like it could be one of Michigan’s best in some time.
Headlined by endless potential, this class is likely to features some major Division 1 college players in the years to come.
We released our first Class of 2022 rankings earlier this week and out of the entire group, it was Marian’s Ava Brizard that took the top spot.
“I’m sure she’s just ecstatic about being ranked number one,” Marian coach Mayssa Cook said. “For a kid like Ava, I am sure this will only motivate her to get better and better. Some kids might think they have arrived if they were ranked number one, but Ava is someone that is always striving to be better than she was the day before.”
The 6’0” outside hitter caught many eyes in the fall of 2018 when she was the lone freshman to be named to the Division 1 All-State team as an Honorable Mention selection.
“You meet kids with Ava’s skill level every few years, but you don’t see kids with her work ethic very often,” Cook said. “I feel very fortunate to have been able to coach her and be part of that development. She has tremendous respect for her coaches and teammates and really applies what we try to teach her. She isn’t someone to rest on her talents and that is really refreshing to see as a coach.”
Brizard put up 401 kills and 419 digs to help lead the Mustangs to a district championship last fall. She then carried that over to a strong club season with Michigan Elite 15 Mizuno.
Along with being Brizard’s coach at Marian, Cook also has coached her during club season and first started working with the sophomore when she was 11.
“The Ava you see today is the same person she was at 11 in terms of work ethic, determination and personality,” Cook said. “You can tell she is a focused athlete. She brought an intensity to practice every single day throughout the season. It is just who she is. She’s an intense player that is passionate about volleyball. She’s a kid that works so hard in the gym that her teammates can’t help but respect her and look up to her.”
Cook finds Brizard to be a nature leader, so much so that she named her a team captain at Marian as a sophomore.
“She’s proven herself time and time again that really it was a no-brainer,” Cook said of making Brizard a captain as a sophomore. “She’s a great leader. She puts the team first and her skill speaks for itself.”
In the early stages of the 2019 season, you can see Brizard is already making strides in her game. Her hitting percentage is up to .355 this year, compared to .279 last season. She also is averaging 4.3 kills per set right now, where she averaged 3.1 last season.
Brizard’s serving has made a big jump as well. She had just 22 aces all of last season through 129 sets. This year, she has 13 through her first 21 sets.
“Her shot selection and vision has improved a lot over the last year,” Cook said. “Her serve receive and digging ability has also gotten better and her serve has greatly improved since last high school season. It is much more aggressive and consistent. Her vision in terms of how well she sees the block and her shot selection is really standing out. To see the arsenal of shots she has in her tool belt right night is pretty cool.”
Cook has three more years to work with Brizard and their focus is on continuing to sharpen her already sharp skills. Brizard could be a little more crisp in the back row, but is committed to getting better. Cook would also like to see her remain aggressive in her swings, even when the situations aren’t picture-perfect.
“I’d like to see her fight to stay aggressive when we are out of system more than she does,” Cook said. “She needs to continue to have confidence in her ability to better the ball. We’ve had four and five-set matches where Ava hasn’t had a single attack error. She’s a very smart player when she attacks, so I would like to see her be more physical more often at the net.”
Brizard is part of a young Marian team that has just three seniors this season. She is one of four sophomores on the squad, three of which are in the top 10 of our rankings. They are middle hitter Sarah Sylvester and outside Tatum Casper.
The Mustangs also have five freshmen, but the youth hasn’t been an issue. So far in 2019, Marian is off to an 12-0 start and currently ranked second in our Division 1 rankings.
“The exciting thing about this team is that we have found ourselves in some big holes during sets and managed to dig our selves out of those holes,” Cook said. “We are a team that is battling and that is really encouraging. It says a lot about the character of the team even though we are really young.”