Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin (11) attempts to block a spike from Sault Ste. Marie’s Julia Beaumont (7) during a semifinal round of the Escanaba Elks Invitational Saturday at Escanaba.

ESCANABA — Six fallen teams and seven hours of volleyball led to the Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils grounding the Stephenson Eagles 2-0 (25-20, 25-15) here Saturday in the final round of the annual Escanaba Elks Invitational.

The Blue Devils got off to a quick start in the first set, but a short run from the Eagles’ Toree Kuntze tied it at 7. The Sault regained momentum and pulled back ahead with a short run from Julia Beaumont. The Blue Devils remained ahead by two for the rest of the set despite pushes from the Eagles, before Jordyn Haller finished the set with a spike.

“I thought we did a really good job of moving the ball around as far as Melina (Robertson), my setter, so I thought our passing was very good,” Blue Devils’ coach Lisa Moran said. “We had some trouble throughout the day with serve receive, but I think we picked that up. That made a difference for our hitters to be able to put the ball down once our passing was on.

“This (win) was part of our goal. It was an early morning to get here after homecoming (Friday), so we just wanted to get this win. We have two more tournaments left this year, and we wanted to win the last three.”

An early five-point run from the Blue Devils’ Brooke Baker in the second set gave them a lead that Stephenson couldn’t overcome.

Trailing 23-13, the Eagles’ Makayla Johnson scored on a kill to give them an opportunity, but a kill from the Blue Devils’ Faith Cryderman took back possession. A Sault Ste. Marie service error gave Stephenson another chance, but a kill from Beaumont earned the set and the match for the Blue Devils.

“I thought the girls played really good,” Eagles’ coach Sara Johnson said. “We’ve had some good tournaments this year, but we’ve also had some slow starts. We (weren’t slow) today, so I was really glad for that.

“Defense for us was the key. We faced a lot of good hitters today. Adjusting here and there and being able to put up a good pass was the key to a lot of what were able to do because our setter was able to give us some good hits.”

Sault Ste. Marie took Escanaba in two sets in the semfinals, as did Stephenson against Carney-Nadeau.

Escanaba, which eliminated Rudyard in the quarterfinals, was forced to repeat its pool play experience against the Blue Devils, who knocked out the Esky jayvee team in the quarterfinals.

Haller got the Blue Devils off to a quick start in the first set with a six-point service run, and they held onto that momentum for the rest of the match. Esky’s Taylor Ray tied it up at 9, but after a few points of back-and-forth, a refocused Sault team pulled ahead of the Eskymos and took the set.

The second set was similar as Esky led briefly in the middle before a Blue Devils’ timeout got them back on track to earn the win.

“Our play was okay today, and there’s some great teams here,” Esky coach Adam Lambert said. “That’s what this Esky tournament needs to be about — bringing in good teams to play and great competition. It was tough for us, but it was good. It was good competition.”

Carney and Stephenson faced off in the other semifinals match, having knocked out Negaunee and Gladstone, respectively, in the quarterfinals.

Stephenson took an early lead and let that momentum take them through its first set to earn a 25-14 win.

The Wolves found more of a rhythm in the second set, closing within one point near the end, but a four-point run from the Eagles closed out the set 25-19.

“We were a little up and down today,” Wolves’ coach Steve Kedsch said. “At times, I thought we were just playing some great volleyball, and all of a sudden we lack communication. That’s kind of been the story all year. We’re just trying to figure out, as a team, how to keep that consistency. There (were) some good teams here today, and I was happy with how our defense held up.”

Liana Blahnik led C-N with 43 kills, 32 digs, six blocks and three aces. Haley Ernest added 73 assists, 25 digs, six kills and two aces, while Sandra Boulton had 39 digs, 28 kills and six aces. Taylor Kedsch added 44 digs, 28 kills and two aces, while Jules Thoune had 34 digs, 13 assists, seven aces and four kills. Zoey Poupore chipped in with 34 digs and two aces.

Pool play results (in sets):

Black Pool — Sault Ste. Marie 6-0, Stephenson 3-3, Escanaba (varsity) 2-4, Negaunee 1-5.

Orange Pool — Carney-Nadeau 5-1, Rudyard 5-1, Gladstone 2-4, Escanaba (jayvee) 0-6.