By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
Saginaw Arthur Hill entered the 2006-07 boys basketball season as defending champions in Class A, the division for schools in Michigan with the largest enrollment.
Arthur Hill has started off at 4-0 and coach Greg McMath is confident his team can challenge for another title.
"We've been playing up and down and not up to our potential," McMath said. "We're trying to get better early in the season. From last year, we had eight guys who had three years of varsity experience.
"The guys we have are talented and they're trying to reach their own standards."
Arthur Hill figures it has one of the toughest 20-game schedules in the entire state with powerhouses like Kalamazoo Central, Muskegon Heights and Orchard Lake St. Mary.
"Our next several games will see what we're made of," McMath said.
Darquavis Tucker has been Arthur Hills' leading scorer so far.
Hockey
Hockey season for Michigan high schools is nearing its second month of completion. It appears that East Kentwood, a Class A power situated near Grand Rapids, is set to be a state contender again.
Ron Baum is in his 33rd year of coaching, with one state championship under his belt, has a team that advanced to the state quarterfinals last year.
Baum's team has only two losses against two divisional top-ranked teams in Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook 5-1 and Detroit Catholic Central 5-4 in overtime.
"We're missing a lot of kids who aren't here for one reason or another," Baum said.
East Kentwood has gotten balanced scoring from its top two lines. Scoring leaders include Eric Alexander, Ben Dykstra and Aric Geerlings.
"We're getting a lot of scoring on the power play. It's clipping along at a 60 percent success rate," Baum said. "We're very happy with that. These guys have been playing together for quite a few years.
"We have two power-play units. They're in intense competition with each other."
In a 7-1 victory over Grandville, East Kentwood was 6-of-7 on power plays.
But the schedule will continue to be tough for the Falcons who will soon play another top ranked divisional team in Grosse Pointe South near Detroit.
Volleyball
John Knuth has coached Marysville the last 24 years and has seen his teams win nine of the last 10 Class B state tiles.
No wonder why other Class B schools consider Marysville as the team to beat when it comes to challenging for a state crown.
"We have a lot of dedicated people to the program who have worked hard," Knuth said. "We've had a chance to play on a pretty high level for a few years now. We're working hard to have some success."
Lisa Tobiczyk is the team captain and returns to the Libero position. Another standout player is Jaime Anglin.
"We're going to have to work on our defense," Knuth said, adding that his team's main opponent for another state title will be Grand Rapids South Christian.