Short-handed Eskymos rally past Emeralds in 5
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MANISTIQUE -- The Escanaba Eskymos and Manistique Emeralds went the full five-set distance Thursday night in Manistique as the Eskymos put on a late rally to take the win 3-2 (14-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-15, 15-12).
"It feels great," said Escanaba coach Adam Lambert," You know, we came off of a tough loss Tuesday, and the girls were down. We talked about a lot, and they ran a lot in practice. They didn't want that much again, so they came out ready to play."
The Emeralds came out strong in the fifth set, opening up a 9-3 lead. It was Escanaba's Grayson LaMarche who put a stop to a four-point Emerald's run -- from six to nine -- helmed by libero Ava Hinkson and put momentum back in the Eskymos' favor.
Following Lamarche's score, Escanaba took control with an eight-point run, with Mara Liss serving to put them in the lead 12-9.
Manistique would not go quietly, however.
After scoring to take control of the all, the Emeralds evened the score at 12 with back-to-back aces from Kamry Flodin.
The Eskymos pulled away one final time to take the 15-12 win with an ace from McKayla Mott.
The excitement of the match was backed all night by a strong Manistique fan section and the Eskymo's JV squad -- who won their match 2-1 -- as the two groups dueled all night with chants and cheers.
Lambert gave kudos to both the Manistique program and its fans.
"Manistique is always great competition," said Lambert. "These guys have a great program. I love their fan section. They get the whole gym riled up."
With several key players out, Lambert was happy with any outcome after seeing how his team stepped up and performed.
"That could have been anyone's game tonight, and I would have been happy either way with a W or an L because they played outstanding," he said. "We've got injuries that are just all over our program, and we've got two girls out that are sick, and all of them are our starters. My whole team stepped up, and we saw some Zoe Wilson out there like we've never seen before getting on the floor diving at some stuff. She's our left hitter right now. That's crazy."
Kaitlyn Stalboerger and Grayson LaMarche both had stellar performances for the Eskymos.
Stalboerger put up an astounding 24 kills, a personal best, while freshman LaMarche had 13.
"Kudos of credit (to Grayson) for being a freshman," said Lambert. "Last time she played was eighth grade which is barely a program. She comes out here at the varsity level and just starts to conquer it. And we've got so much to see from her over the next couple years, I'm excited.
"Now Stalboerger, as a junior, 24 kills tonight? Let's talk about that for a long time," he added. "She just did outstanding. She was exhausted. She actually subbed out herself. She's like, 'Coach, I need a break.' I get it! She was pounding the ball."
Mari Bink led the Eskymos in assists with 15, while Stalboerger also led in aces with four.
Emeralds' coach Amy Nixon echoed Lambert's feelings of the Manistique fan section.
"This is Emerald volleyball," Nixon said. "It's been like this for a good ten years. This is my fourteenth season here, and at least for the last 10, we've had fans that support us to 100-percent. And, we love it. It makes other teams come in and be a little intimidated to play here, and we love that.
"You'd rather have kids in here on a Thursday night cheering on volleyball than out doing who knows what."
As far as the game side of things goes, Nixon was happy with how things went despite the loss.
"I'm feeling good about all of the positive things we did tonight and taking mental notes of the things we need to keep working on," she said. "It's early in the season still, and if we're going to lose, five sets would be the better way of doing it, I guess.
"They fought hard, so I'm not upset. They did a lot of good things tonight, and there's still some things to work on."
Ella Schuetter had 15 kills to lead the Emeralds while also getting her arms up for three blocks.
Ava Hinkson -- who set a personal best 16 digs -- and Sarah McDaniel each had four aces, while Emma Jones had 29 assists, her personal best.
Manistique visits Charlevoix this weekend for a tournament.
The Eskymos ready for Gladstone in Gladstone on Tuesday.