ESCANABA – Escanaba was its own worst enemy at times during the Eskymos’ home volleyball opener, Tuesday against Iron Mountain.

Appearing to have the edge in net play, the Eskymos were undone by a flurry of hitting and serving errors early and late, as the fundamentally strong Mountaineers persevered 3-2 (25-17, 25-17, 19-25, 20-25, 15-8).

“It’s early in the season, but I give these girls a lot of credit for putting in a lot of time this summer,” said Mountaineers head coach Jeanne Newberry. “My kids are going to have to play smart this year because we’re going to give up the height. So we’ll certainly have to be a quicker team.”

Iron Mountain capitalized off five Escanaba seriving errors in thye first set, and Mountaineers’ outside hitter Anni Cevigney asserted her dominance early and often. It matered little if she was up front, or in the back row. Her game was effective all around for 22 kills. Likewise, Sarah Bogaudo had a balanced game with five kills and four digs. Setter Alli Cevigney had 25 assists, and sophomore Jordan Weslin had four kills and six aces, including two lengthy service runs.

“Sarah Bogaudo played consistent all the way through,” said Newberry. “She’s a strong receiver in serve receive, and has good control in the pass, so if I can get her to pass the ball to the center, usually it’s a three-pass kill set.”

That set-up worked often enough for Iron Mountain to take the first two sets, even as Escanaba’s outside hitting tandem of Maddy Willis and Sheyanne Howze threatened to take over the game.

Willis scored six of Escanaba’s first seven points in the second game, on four kills and three blocks. She finished with seven kills and eight blocks. Howze came on strong in the third set, and led the Eskymos with eight kills. Setter Sam Henderson had 23 assists with no errors, and was also the Eskymos’ top server with 14 safe serves. Libero JJ Laviolette came up with 10 digs.

Katie Ziebell displayed a strong swing for the Eskymos with six kills, including, three in the fifth set, though as a team a few too many balls went errant, either out of bounds or back up against the net.

“We had a lot of serving errors tonight, and we need to work on our defense,” said Escanaba coach Theresa Heidt. “We came back after those first two sets and found the chemistry. We had some passing errors those first two sets and just didn’t know where the chemistry was. We may have found it tonight. I’m excited the way we played the third and fourth games.”

Iron Mountain, which committed fewer errors was able to shift the momentum in the decisive fifth set, using a 5-0 service run after a side-out, and never let Escanaba recover. The Mountaineers’ back row, including libero Susie Hagan, eventually got wise to Willis and Howze and were in position to save a lot of kill attempts. .

Heidt saw plenty of positives, and likes the potential of her team if they continue to gain confidence.

“Once they start hitting the ball, and realize they can, they’ll get the energy and build off that,” she said. “It’s exciting for the younger girls to learn how to do it.”

Escanaba’s JVs won 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-19).

Escanaba resumes Tuesday at Negaunee.