Marian Junior Named Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year for Michigan

Marian High School Junior Ava Brizard was named 2020-21 Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee.  Ava is the third Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year to be chosen from Marian High School in twelve years.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Ava as Michigan’s best high school volleyball player.  She is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year award. Ava joins previous winners Alex Lovell, Marian Alumnae 2011, 2010-11 Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year and Rachel Charles, Marian alumnae 2010, 2009-10 Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year.
The 6-foot-1 junior outside hitter led the Mustangs to a 37-5 record and the Division 1 state championship this past season. Brizard compiled 598 kills, 412 digs, 37 blocks and 35 service aces while posting a .492 kill percentage and a .395 hitting percentage. She recorded 26 kills and 10 digs in Marians 3-0 win over Lowell High in the state final. Ranked as the nation’s No. 75 recruit in the Class of 2022 by PrepVolleyball.com, Brizard was a Division 1 First Team All-State selection. She concluded her junior year with 1,536 kills and 1,340 digs in her prep volleyball career.
Ava has maintained a weighted 4.17 GPA in the classroom. She has volunteered locally as a youth volleyball coach with Summer in the City, through which teens invest their creativity and compassion into the city of Detroit. She has made a verbal commitment to play volleyball on scholarship at North Carolina State University beginning in the fall of 2022.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Ava has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. She is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.
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Marian High School

7225 Lahser Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301
PHONE: 248-644-1750 - Marian High School
Marian High School, an IHM sponsored school, is fully accredited by NCA CASI, an accrediting division of AdvancED.

Marian is a Catholic college preparatory school for young women, sponsored by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The mission of Marian is to ensure, within a Christian environment, an excellent education built on a strong academic curriculum, which will enable young women to value human diversity and live responsible lives of leadership and action based on gospel values.

An enduring tradition: guiding young women spiritually, challenging them academically, and inspiring them to a life of leadership and service.