Braves, Esky reach spike semis in debut
KINGSFORD — Escanaba and Gladstone opened their volleyball seasons with semifinal appearances in Saturday’s Kingsford Invitational.
It was Iron Mountain which was crowned champion, however, topping the host Flivvers 25-23, 25-17 for its first title since 2007.
Copper Country schools had captured the title eight of the nine previous years, a streak interrupted by Forest Park in 2011.
Calumet won the event five of the past six years and was runner-up to Hancock in 2016.
“The Copper Country schools had pretty much dominated the U.P.,” said Mountaineers’ coach Jeanne Newberry. “It has been a long time coming for us. Hopefully, this is a good omen for the rest of the season. We have a lot of experience. We’re coming into this season in better shape because the girls played a lot of club ball this summer.
“We have a lot of depth on this team. With this being the first date of the season, this was a good tournament to try different combinations.”
The Eskymos fell to the Mountaineers in two sets and the Braves bowed to Kingsford (18-25, 25-17, 15-12) in the other semifinal.
The Braves took a brief 9-8 lead in the third set, but a sideout tied the score and a service ace by senior Olivia Allen sent the Flivvers ahead to stay.
Gladstone also led 14-11 in the second before the Flivvers used a 14-3 run to force the third set.
In the title match, a nine-point service run by Olyvea Galeazzi helped Iron Mountain build an 18-8 advantage in the second set.
Kingsford trimmed its deficit to 23-17, but Iron Mountain didn’t allow the Flivvers to get any closer.
“We know Iron Mountain, Escanaba and Gladstone pretty well,” said middle hitter Emma Thomma, one of 11 Iron Mountain seniors. “We played with them in club ball and got to know their system.”
Kingsford senior middle hitter Aby Pickett hit 12 aces. Allen added 10 aces and 20 kills. Junior Maggie Strehlow collected 23 kills. Brooke Kriegl had 36 digs. Katherine Erickson distributed 30 assists and Lexi Roberge had 21 in the Flivvers’ 6-2 offense.
“This was a good learning experience for us,” said Kingsford coach Jaclynn Kriegl. “Iron Mountain has a fantastic team this year and they’re going to be real good the next couple years. This tournament shows what we have to work on. Overall, it went real well.”
Esky opened bracket play with a 17-25, 26-24, 15-7 triumph over Calumet.
Senior middle hitter Lexi Chailler had 12 kills against the Copper Kings and secured the second set with an ace.
“One of the big changes we made this year is we moved Lexi to the middle (from outside hitter),” said Esky coach Adam Lambert.
“She’s a big blocking machine and Kaitlyn Lord did a nice job setting. Our win over Calumet was huge. I think a little fatigue may have set in against Iron Mountain, but we still played very well. Iron Mountain has a tall team and very good hitters.”
A dominating performance by sophomore middle hitter Megan Crow helped Gladstone beat Hancock 25-14, 25-13 in its bracket opener.
The Braves, who host Esky Tuesday, spilt with North Dickinson (23-25, 25-19) and Calumet (26-24, 19-25) and beat Menominee (25-6, 25-20) in pool play.
Esky defeated Norway (25-11, 25-17, 24-26) and fell to Iron Mountain (25-17, 26-24, 23-25) in its pool matches.