Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba volleyball coach Adam Lambert talks to his team during a timeout against Houghton for the Division 2 District 33 Championship in Escanaba, Nov. 5.

ESCANABA — As restrictions fluctuate — along with all the things tied to it — it can be difficult to find those positive events and moments that help push through it, but it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine the successes of the Escanaba volleyball team being such for many in the community.

“This season has been full of many ups and downs,” Esky freshman Carney Salo said. “We had school closures, teammates quarantined, and team injuries, but that didn’t stop us. We had many team bonding activities which kept us working together thanks to our fantastic coaches. The best thing of all is that we have an amazing community and school which continued to support us on our journey. It was an exciting season making it to the regional finals! I hope we can do it again next year.”

Building on their district championship from last season, the Eskymos achieved the same this year and moved beyond it to the regional finals. Even though they experienced a loss there against Cadillac, the Eskymos progressed to a point that they haven’t ever before.

“I’m just pleased we were able to repeat last year’s success as district champions and move on from that to regional finals. If we keep this progression, we’ve got a state title coming in a little bit,” Esky coach Adam Lambert joked.

Improving as they have season to season is no mean feat, and Lambert feels that it’s partially down to the evolution of his coaching style.

“The more seasons I get under my belt, the more I want to adapt from one season to the next,” he said. “You know, a lot of it is just seeing what other coaches do, seeing different formats, studying more on my own in the offseason to find out different offensive plays. That’s been a lot of it if I’m honest.

“When I came into this, I was a volleyball player. I wasn’t a volleyball coach. I really had to learn … how to lead other athletes to accomplish one goal. One of the biggest things for me personally was coaching females. I’d never done that before prior to coaching this team. Learning that you can’t just grab them by the facemask or helmet and yell at them to get them going. There’s different ways. I keep changing how I coach because I’m still learning, and I think that’s been influential on our seasons.”

One addition to the team this season, and someone who helped encourage that learning, was assistant coach Dacota Maeder.

“This year, I brought in an assistant coach — an alumni of the Escanaba volleyball program — and she’s really helped me get into the emotional side of the game with the girls, how to encourage them in a positive way emotionally,” Lambert said. “I can work on the physical side all practice long, but (the mental side is) where about 85 to 90 percent of being a good athlete is. She really just helped encourage the mental side of the game.”

As Lambert’s coaching evolved, he also changed how he handled personnel.

“What I’ve done this year more than in previous years is pay attention to the strengths of the individual athlete and played them where I felt they were most strong,” he said. “In contrast to years past, if someone said they were an outside hitter, then I’d just put them at outside hitter and work with them on that. This season, I went: ‘I know you want to be an outside hitter, but this is where your strengths lie. So, we’re going to move you over here and work with you on this.'”

Furthering the discussion of mentality, Lambert also made a small, seemingly simple change that’s paid off for the team.

“It may seem like it doesn’t matter much, but I’ve changed my practice times to later in the day,” he said. “The same time frame as we have games. I feel like the more you do that’s more game-like, the more prepared the girls will be. Before, it was right after school, and maybe they’ve just come off a hard class or test. I wanted to change their mental focus during practice time, so I delayed it and put it to seven o’clock at night or six-thirty to eight-thirty or whatever. (It was) just to get in the same time of day that most of our matches were.”

COVID-19 also unexpectedly enhanced the Eskymos’ mentality.

“It’s been tough for all schools and all athletes,” Lambert said. “We did have our two and a half or three-week break in the middle to stop the spread in our school. We came back pretty rusty, and I was afraid at that point it was going to turn our season upside down. But what I saw out of the girls was the opposite. I saw that they were more than ever determined to every game and practice to play like it was their last. They played really hard, they played really aggressive and they just wanted to end the season — whenever that was going to be — as strongly as they could. They also didn’t know if we would have a game the next week, so when we got to the postseason, it was like we had to play our hardest because we already had a short season.”

Esky sophomore Bailey Barron echoed Lambert and felt the strain helped the team gel early on.

“Our team had chemistry right from the get-go,” she said. “We had a few obstacles in the way as our team was quarantined for two weeks thanks to COVID-19. After the two weeks were up, we were thrown back into the swing of things with one practice before our next game. This did not stop us though, because we went on a run, and it seemed we couldn’t be stopped. We had so much fun on this journey as a team, and we grew so close to each other. We had so much love for one another.”

Junior Allison Korpi also felt team unity was something that helped the Eskymos excel.

“Throughout the season, I felt that — as a team — we really came together and played for teammates that were out due to quarantining. As crazy as a season we had, game cancellations, quarantines and even a two-week break in the middle, I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this team and how much we achieved.”

The seniors on the team were instrumental to the team’s success, and Lambert had encouraging words to say for each.

“One thing I want to say about Nicole Kamin,” he said. “Everyone knows about her athleticism, but what impressed me the most this year is that that young lady is a natural leader. She goes out of her way to show her leadership in a servant leadership form — meaning, when I pull her out during practice, she’ll go around and clean up, she’ll shag the ball and she’ll help people on the side individually. She’s just always positive. Everyone, all day, can talk about her abilities on the floor, but I’m just really impressed by her leadership outside of the sport.”

Senior Anna Smith felt the season was an appropriate way to finish off her high school volleyball career.

“Because of COVID, it was hard at times, but we ended up having a really good season,” she said. “I am so proud of my entire team for how well we played. It was such an amazing feeling being able to get as far as we did. (It was) definitely the best way to finish my volleyball career.”

Lambert felt Smith was an important piece of the puzzle.

“(She) came through when we needed her this year,” he said. “She’s a lot of fun — really spunky.

“She’s got a good attitude most of the time — honestly, all of the time. She’s a good egg. Not every game was she on, but when we needed her to be on, she was there and ready to play.”

Senior setter Grace Charles was excited about the team dynamic developed over the season.

“This year, I think we had a phenomenal team,” she said. “We all get along so well on and off the court, and each of our individual skills came together so perfectly for one awesome team. Volleyball means so much to me, and this year was a little chaotic, but I’m so proud of our team that we made it as far as we did and made Escanaba history.”

Lambert praised Charles’ setting during the season.

“She’s so soft-spoken but never a bad attitude,” he said. “She’s always doing the best that she can, and the girls love her.

“She’s been a phenomenal setter for us this year. Last year, she learned a lot. (Last year) she didn’t see a lot of game floor, but when she did, she was a good student of those around her.”

The final two graduating Seniors are Grace Rexford and Maysie Lancour.

“Grace Rexford was an unfortunate one, our senior libero, she rolled her ankle really badly, and it took her out of postseason,” Lambert said. “That’s really tough as a senior to see your team go that far and just be able to cheer from the sidelines. Great attitude though. She still came to every practice. She came to everything she could just to show she was still a part of the team.

“Maysie Lancour has a great attitude — just really nice. She knew in some games that she wasn’t ‘on’ where we had to put somebody else in, but she never let it bother her. I’ve seen her improve a lot this year. She just really did a great job for us.

“I love our seniors. I’m sorry to see them go, but I’m certainly not (worrying about next year). No, we’ve got some great talent coming up next year. I hope a few of them have a growth spurt, but other than that, I’m excited for next year.”

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