Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Manistique’s Emilee McDaniel (8) attempts to hit the ball past Traverse City St. Francis’ Lauren Tocco during Thursday’s Division 3 regional final at Manistique.

MANISTIQUE — For a little over one set, it looked as if Manistique might be headed toward its first-ever regional title. Then, Traverse City St. Francis called timeout, regrouped and took over as the aggressor.

The Gladiators (33-17) rallied back to win the second set, pulled away late in the third and then hung on to win the fourth to win their second straight Division 3 regional volleyball title over Manistique with a 3-1 (18-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-21) victory at the Emeralds’ gym Thursday night.

“It feels amazing,” first-year Gladiators’ coach Kathleen Nance said. “These girls are amazing, they’re great to work with… My coaching staff is unbelievably good, and it just feels good.”

The Emeralds — fresh off a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 win over Calumet in the semis Tuesday — came out on fire in the first set, building a 20-9 lead after a six-point service run by Brooke Richey. After closing it out with relative ease, they built an 8-3 lead in the second set to force the Gladiators into a timeout.

Out of the timeout, everything changed.

Trailing 9-5, St. Francis’ Alena Kavanaugh went on a six-point run that was finished with a powerful kill by Kaylin Poole. Poole then went on a three-point run to boost the Gladiators’ lead to 14-10, and later in the set Maddie Connolly went on a four-point run to make it 22-15 and help close out the set.

“I think that we were just a little nervous, and it took us a minute to get our feet on the ground and realize that we just needed to play our game,” Nance said. “We were just trying to rock back on our heels and letting them take over. (After the timeout), we made that decision that we were going to be more aggressive and it started paying off for us.”

Manistique went ahead 12-8 in the third set before Poole went on a seven-point run to make it 16-12 after an ace. The Emeralds responded to pull within 16-15 on a kill by Emilee McDaniel, but that’s as close as they would get the rest of the set.

“I think St. Francis definitely got their offense going,” Emeralds’ coach Amy Nixon said. “They have good hitters, and our defense did their best to try to adjust our block. You’re not going to get to every ball.

“Did we adjust our offense? Obviously not.”

With a regional title in reach, the Gladiators began the fourth set on an 8-3 run that was capped by a kill from Gwyneth Bramer. Manistique then fought hard and began to chip away, eventually tying the score 16-16 on an ace by McDaniel.

“We knew going into that set that it was going to be the hardest set to win,” Nance said. “I think we just have to have a calm mindset going into that. We talked a lot about letting go of the play before and moving on to the next play. There’s nothing we can do to change what just happened, but we have to focus on what we can do in the next point.”

The Gladiators did that, regaining a 20-17 lead on a kill by Poole. The Emeralds got to within 22-20 after a block-kill by McDaniel, but the Gladiators maintained their lead and won the match on a Manistique service error.

“It’s really tough when you know that you’re at their level and you can play with them and have the ability to beat them,” Nixon said. “That’s what I think hurts the most. I don’t think they were necessarily the better team, but they showed it tonight and that’s what the outcome proves.

“I am really proud of my team, though. They never backed down, they never put their head down, they just really tried to fight all the way until the end… so I can’t be mad about that.”

Poole led the Gladiators with 24 kills, 14 digs, two aces and one assist. Hannah Sidorowicz added 41 assists, eight digs and four kills, while Laura Gallagher chipped in with 20 digs, two aces, one kill and one assist. Connolly had 13 digs, seven kills and one ace.

“The game plan was to get (Poole) in a position without two blockers as much as possible,” Nance said. “We wanted to mix up our offense so she got some one-on-one situations, because when she gets that, she can really take over a game.”

The Gladiators will play Beaverton in the state quarterfinals Tuesday in Houghton Lake.

Lenna Smith led the Emeralds with 22 digs, eight kills and three aces. McDaniel added 13 kills, three aces and three blocks, while Erin LaBar chipped in with 26 assists, four digs and one block. Richey had 11 digs and two aces.

Smith, McDaniel, LaBar and Jeanni Chartier each played their final game as an Emerald.

“I feel like this is one of the best teams Manistique volleyball has ever put out, so I’m really proud of them,” Nixon said. “The four seniors on my team have really taken over a leadership role and tried to lead this team back to this spot, in addition to my two returners (Kayla Muth and Madison Zellar) who were on the team last year as sophomores. They played in this exact game a year ago, so they knew what it took to get back here. They spent the time in the offseason working to get back to this point, and unfortunately we couldn’t get to the next step tonight… But I’m really proud of them for committing to me and this program.”

Traverse City St. Francis

Poole (24 kills, 14 digs, two aces, one assist); Sidorowicz (41 assists, eight digs, four kills); Gallagher (20 digs, two aces, one kill, one assist); Connolly (13 digs, seven kills, one ace); Ochab (seven digs, two kills, one assist); Kavanaugh (seven digs, four aces); Bramer (five kills, three digs, two assists); Coger (five digs, one ace); Tocco (three kills).

Manistique

Smith (22 digs, eight kills, three aces); McDaniel (13 kills, three aces, three blocks); LaBar (26 assists, four digs, one block); Richey (11 digs, two aces); Muth (six kills, one block); Chartier (three kills, one ace, one dig); M. Zellar (13 digs); D. Zellar (four digs).