It used to be that volleyball teams in the county were way inferior to those around the rest of the state because no team had ever won a state volleyball title.
That all has changed the past few years with Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (2007) and Birmingham Marian (2009, 2010) winning state championships and Farmington Hills Mercy advancing to the state's final four the last two years.
But one could've argued that it was just a case of the area's Catholic League powers taking over and that the public school teams were still very weak and vulnerable.
Not anymore.
There will indeed be another all-Oakland County matchup in Battle Creek on Thursday, but it won't be Mercy vs. Marian as it has been the last two years in Cereal City (the semifinals two years ago, the final last year).
Instead, it'll be OAA Red and overall athletic arch rivals Clarkston and Lake Orion hooking up in a Class A state semifinals.
Kosmo hopes sports fans of these two schools show up in droves in Battle Creek because this is a once-in-a-lifetime type of deal to not only see these two rivals play on a such a big state tournament stage in any sport, but to also see that the OAA looks to be arriving as a conference that can produce state title contenders in volleyball.