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North Central falls to Munising in four

Todd Rose | Daily Press North Central’s Cheyenne Borucki (13) readies to hit the ball back over to Munising Monday in Powers.

POWERS — A hotly contested match between North Central and Munising went the way of the Mustangs Monday night in Powers.

After trading the first two sets with the Jets, the Mustangs won the third and fourth to take the match 3-1, (25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23). It was the team’s first win of the 2020 season.

In the first set, the Mustangs got off to a strong start with several short runs to take an early 11-4 lead over the Jets. However, the Jets answered with several short runs of their own to bring the score within four before the Mustangs claimed the set.

The second began with the teams taking turns swapping the lead. The Mustangs leapt out of the gate with three points, only for the Jets to nab three as well. The teams traded short runs throughout the set, with the Jets taking it 20-25.

The third and fourth featured the same seesaw action of the first two. Both were won by the Mustangs 25-23.

Senior Ainsley Bonevelle and junior Valerie Johnson led the Mustangs in kills with five and four kills, respectively. Junior Mackenzie Richardson led the way in assists with 13, while fellow junior Emily Miles put up seven aces.

“I thought we played well, and we played hard,” said Mustangs’ coach Josh Cole, “We still have some inconsistencies. That’s been our Achilles heel all year, but we were able to pull one out here tonight.”

Munising now begins to look toward the district playoffs, which begin next Monday.

“We play Superior Central in the opening round,” said Cole, “We actually see Superior Central here on Thursday, so we get one more look at them before playing them in the district opening round.”

For the Jets, coach Rick Mick boiled the team’s loss down to miscommunication.

“We made some mistakes that, personally, I felt were at key points in the game,” said Mick. “I believe a lot of the mistakes were made by us, but I’m not taking anything away from Munising. They played a great match.”

Two players that were all over the court making dives and saves for the Jets were junior Ariel Poupore and senior Cheyenne Borucki.

“Their back row play today was great, both of them,” said Mick, “They had very good coverage on the tips and short balls, and I’m looking forward to that staying that way as we move forward.”

Like the Mustangs, who won the JV match, the Jets also begin to prepare for playoffs.

“We got a first-round bye, and we play at home,” Mick stated, “We’re going to get either Rapid River or Stephenson … I think we can be competitive against either of those teams, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Before the Jets can regroup, they will travel to Carney-Nadeau.

“It’s going to be extremely difficult,” said Mick, “But we will focus on that in practice on Wednesday, and we will focus on that tomorrow in the game.”

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