Mercy ends championship drought

When the volleyball harmlessly landed on the floor to clinch the IAAM B Conference championship for Mercy High Sunday, tears burst out on Alayah Phifer’s face as her teammates mobbed her.

The wait gloriously ended for the Magic, who outlasted Garrison Forest in five sets (23-25, 25-16, 25-16, 16-25, 15-11) at Stevenson University, for the program’s first league championship since 2012.

The dream became reality for Phifer, a senior outside hitter whose hit wasn’t returned, starting a celebration a decade in the making.

“I can’t even think of a word to describe it,” said Phifer. “I just want to stick with happy and relieved.”

It was a joyous sigh of relief for the Magic (14-1 overall) which overcame a valiant and dogged effort by Garrison Forest (12-3). Mercy did not drop a set during regular season league play (8-0) and Thursday’s semifinal round (defeated Roland Park Country).

After being thoroughly handled in Sunday’s fourth set, Mercy regrouped for its defining moment.

“We’ve talked a lot about playing to the game, and not the occasion,” said Mercy coach Matt Marion. “There’s a lot of people…love ones are here, former players back. It’s a lot of emotions and I feel like at times we lost our way, but it said a lot of about the senior leaders out there willing step up and make a play or willing to step up and say something.”

“We were really nervous,” said Magic senior Lauren Panageotou. " This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever played in front of, and I think it was really important to all of us, clearly, that we wanted it for us, for our school, our coaches, and everyone around us.”

Mercy climbed out of a 7-4 hole in the fifth set as Panageotou’s ace tied the game at seven. The Magic gained a 11-10 advantage after Christina Hewitt’s kill, and Marion reinserted Phifer on the frontline.

After a Garrison Forest hitting error, Phifer landed a kill for a 13-10 Mercy advantage. The Magic reached championship point after an exchange of errors.

After an exchange, the ball came to Phifer who immediately sent it back over to the Grizzlies’ side.

The return went under the net, and Phifer turned and put her hands over her face.

“My whole thought on getting that last kill was to just put it down,” said Phifer. “I don’t care if they get it up; I just want to put it down.”

After hitting struggles late in the first set led to its demise, Mercy was down 14-11 in the second set when Phifer got a kill to end an exciting back-and-forth of net play. Panteogou had a couple of aces and the Magic led, 17-14.

Logan Jefferson’s kill secured the second set for Mercy, which got four aces from Panageotou in a 5-0 start in the third. The Magic led by as many as 10 points in the set, and finally looked like the team that ran roughshod through the B league in the regular season.

Garrison Forest, however, wasn’t the same team the Magic previously encountered. Despite showing their inexperience in the second and third sets, the Grizzlies rebounded to a commanding 15-5 advantage in the fourth.

The Magic sliced the deficit to 19-16, but behind three aces from junior libero Lexi Zukerberg, and kills from juniors Rayah Howell and Selah Brashear, Garrison Forest closed out the set.

Though the Grizzlies weren’t able to complete the upset Sunday, coach Sarah Couch was proud of their effort and excited for the future.

“I want to come back here next year, and I know they’re hungry to come back next year,” said Couch, who will graduate one senior. “All of those girls, with the growth they had this season, and I think most of them are going to play club, which is even better, I think next year we’re going to come back even more fiery and more athletic, and I’m just excited to play more ball with them.”

It was the perfect ending for Mercy seniors Phifer, Bridget Cummings, Olivia Liszt, Sami Betley and Panageotou, who played alongside sister Emma, a freshman. Their father, George, will be starting his first season as the successor to legendary Mercy basketball coach Mary Ella Marion.

Marion was in attendance Sunday to watch her son Matt bring the Magic their first volleyball crown in years.

“We challenged them every day in practice to be better than last year, and this group of seniors is amazing. All the girls bought in, every single day,” said Matt Marion. “They did everything we asked them to do, and I’m just so incredibly proud of them right now.”