Esky gets revenge in 5 Esky gets revenge in 5 sets
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ESCANABA -- Junior Katelyn Stalboerger enjoyed a career night here Thursday, helping the Escanaba Eskymos rally past the Manistique Emeralds 3-2 (18-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 15-11) in a non-conference volleyball match.
Stalboerger tallied a career-high 33 kills, including one which gave the Eskymos a 6-4 lead in the fifth set in the regular-season finale.
"I was just on tonight," she said. "Our back row was doing pretty well, too. Everyone was working real hard. We wanted to win it so bad for our seniors. They're a very good team. Their front line was real good. Ella (Schuetter) is a very good player."
Schuetter finished with 21 kills and six blocks, including a kill which brought the Emeralds within 4-3 in the finale.
"She has a college-level hitting percentage," said Emeralds' coach Amy Nixon. "She's probably averaging 35-40 percent.
"This was probably one of her best nights."
Manistique climbed within 12-11 in the last set, then was foiled by service and passing errors which gave Esky a 14-11 cushion.
Junior Mya Whitson followed with a match-clinching kill, enabling the Eskymos to celebrate a hard-fought victory.
"That was heck of a match," said Esky coach Adam Lambert. "Manistique is always real good. They dug up a lot of balls. Katelyn wanted to win tonight, and the rest of the team was behind her. I was clapping for them because I enjoy good volleyball. They made some great plays."
Back-to-back kills by Schuetter gave the Emeralds a 21-13 advantage in the fourth set.
Manistique then committed a hitting miscue, enabling Esky to get a sideout.
The Eskymos then took advantage of two hitting errors and a block by Stalboerger, trimming their deficit to 21-18 and forcing the Emeralds to use a time-out.
Manistique gained a 23-19 lead on an Esky passing error, then committed service and hitting miscues to make it 23-21.
Stalboerger tied the score on a block, then added a kill and a block to force the fifth set.
"When we're doing things well, we do well," said Emeralds' coach Amy Nixon. "They have some good hitters. We stopped her (Stalboerger) plenty of times, but she still got her kills. We made some changes defensively, and I think it's paying off. We made a couple errors that gave them momentum in the fourth set. There's no room for errors, but volleyball is a game of errors."
Manistique took an 11-10 lead on a kill by sophomore Emma Jones in the fifth but was unable to hang on.
A five-point service run by junior Sarah McDaniel helped the Emeralds take a 7-3 lead in the first.
Esky got within 14-12 on a passing error before the Emeralds began to pull away.
The second set was tied at 14 before a kill by junior Mari Bink enabled Esky to take the lead.
Manistique was trailing 17-15 after a hitting miscue, and Stalboerger followed with three consecutive kills to put Esky up by five points.
The Emeralds trimmed their deficit to four on three occasions but were unable to get any closer.
In the third set, Schuetter's block on Stalboerger gave Manistique a 9-3 cushion.
Manistique led 21-11 following back-to-back passing errors by Esky.
Esky, however, climbed within 24-23 on a kill by Stalboerger. Jones then followed with a kill, enabling the Emeralds to secure that set.
Bink finished with 13 kills and 15 assists. Bailey Barron collected six kills and 28 digs. McKayla Mott added 14 assists, and Abigail Rexford had 19 digs.
Esky travels to Houghton for its Division 1 district opener Monday. Manistique visits Gladstone for its D-2 opener Wednesday.
"Houghton has a very good team," said Stalboerger. "They've always had a good volleyball program."