Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Bark River-Harris teammates Lilian Stenberg (7) and Makena Lockwood (9) jump to attempt to block North Dickinson’s Samantha Borvan Tuesday at Bark River-Harris.

By Austin Hemmingson

Sports Writer

HARRIS — Bark River Harris survived a roller coaster ride to beat North Dickinson here Tuesday. The Broncos won 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-21, 4-25, 15-7) in a volleyball match that included many ups and downs.

After dropping the first set, the Broncos (5-4) found themselves trailing 16-5 in the second before coming back to win 25-23. They carried that momentum into the third, taking another victory and going up 2-1.

Then things went south as the Nordics (6-5) reeled off 15 straight points behind Savannah Longtin’s serving to win the fourth set decisively.

“Morale is the biggest thing in high school volleyball,” Broncos’ coach Brooke Jorasz said. “I tell the girls to always cheer, even when you’re losing. Thank your setters, thank your passers. You need that morale on your side.”

The Broncos found a way to get that morale back in the fifth set, jumping out to a 7-1 lead and cruising to a 15-7 victory to win the match.

“I thought we played really well,” Jorasz said. “We had to come back twice, and we did. A key in this game was controlling the floor.”

Makenna Lockwood and Lilian Stenberg each had seven kills to lead the Broncos. Lockwood added five blocks, while Stenberg had four. Cameron Peterson and Madison Draze each had seven assists.

This match got away from the Nordics, who blew a big lead in the second set after winning the first.

“They played really good so you have to give them credit,” Nordics’ coach Sandy Haustein said. “This is the first time they have beat us since I started coaching here. That’s the best (Broncos) team we’ve ever played against.

“It hurts, but we gave them a lot of free balls. The match went in spurts. Sammy (Borvan) took that fourth game for us. It was a good match.”

The Nordics were able to dominate the fourth set 25-4 before falling flat to lose the decisive fifth set.

“We had a huge lead there early.” Haustein said. “We shouldn’t have let them come back. It was a matter of being too inconsistent, and we have to do a better job of talking.”

Borvan led the Nordics with 24 kills. She and Kylie Gustafson each had a 100% serve percentage. Longtin chipped in with four aces, while Briana Smith had 16 digs.

Rapid River hosts Big Bay de Noc Thursday.

North Dickinson will return home Thursday to face Mid Peninsula.