Todd Rose | Daily Press Carney-Nadeau’s Taylor Kedsch (10) hits the ball over the net as North Central’s Tori Dani (3) and Jesi Dani (4) attempt to defend Tuesday night in Carney.

CARNEY — With playoffs looming, it was a productive night for the back in action Carney-Nadeau Wolves as they routed the North Central Jets 3-0 (25-5, 25-8, 25-3) Tuesday in Carney.

After a two week COVID-19 quarantine break, the Wolves showed little rust.

“I’m pretty impressed with how we played tonight,” said Wolves’ coach Steve Kedsch. “Give the kids a lot of credit, they played pretty much mistake-free volleyball.”

Senior Liana Blahnik scored the first point of the night for the Wolves with a spike that set the tone for the rest of the match.

It was immediately followed by a short run. Set one also featured an eight-point run from the Wolves behind senior Haley Ernest’s serving.

Ernest’s serving wasn’t the only thing coach Kedsch was impressed with.

“Haley did a good job of getting the ball to where Liana could hit it,” he said. “She also did a good job of getting outside to Taylor (Kedsch), and both girls were hitting the ball well tonight.”

Blahnik’s performance at the net was backed up with solid serving. She led the Wolves to a seven-point run in set three and totaled six aces in 15 serves.

The third ended with an eight-point Wolves’ run headed by Ernest to take the set and match.

Carney-Nadeau hits the court again tomorrow in a make-up match against Bark River-Harris. Then, it’s on to the playoffs.

“We’ll definitely be challenged tomorrow night,” said Kedsch. “I feel a little more confident going into that match after how we played tonight.”

The Wolves, who won the JV match 2-1, visit Hannahville Monday for the first round of playoffs, a team Kedsch says they don’t know much about.

“We’ll learn a lot, I guess, when we get in their gym,” he said.

Heading into the night, North Central coach Rick Mick knew the Jets were in for an uphill battle.

“They’re a very good hitting team … a very good serving team,” Mick said. “They’re going to hit around us, but I believe we were pretty well in the right positions, we just couldn’t execute today.”

The Jets, according to Mick, also struggled with the mental side of the game.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s one of those situations where we were probably beat before we got off the bus, and it showed on the court,” said Mick. “They were very lackadaisical, very not energetic.”

After the loss, Mick told his team to have a short memory as they prepare for a Thursday game against Rapid River and playoffs next week.

“We forget about tonight,” he said. “We’ll get ready for a Rapid River team that beat us up the first time we played them, and we expect to do better.”

The Jets, with a first-round bye, have a break to regroup before their first playoff game.

See photos we couldn’t fit in the paper at our Instagram: instagram.com/escanabadailypress/