Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Bark River-Harris’ Alaska Peterson (4) spikes the ball against Menominee’s Kayla Drifka (1) during an MHSAA Division 3 Volleyball Tournament opener in Harris Monday.

HARRIS — After facing off at the beginning of the season, two teams met again in a 2021 MHSAA Division 3 District 66 Volleyball Tournament opener Monday in Harris.

Despite growth on both sides, Bark River-Harris repeated history with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-9) win over Menominee to advance.

“We’re feeling good,” Broncos coach Jen Ives said. “The seniors are happy this isn’t their last game. They’re here to play another game. They know they let their energy slip a little bit. Their energy was low. So, there’s definitely some stuff to clean up moving forward, but we’re happy to play another day.”

The Broncos had a slow start in the first set, gifting three of the Maroons’ first four points via errors.

“We came out hard that first game,” Maroons coach Sarah Betzinger said. “I really thought they were going to carry it through. It is what it is. We’ve been hit with injury and illness the last couple weeks, so the fact that they were able to maintain and come out like they did today.

“I’m proud of them.”

Tied at four, Bark River’s Aspen Fredrick earned her first kill to give teammate Carley Varoni the opportunity for a five-point run that included two aces to make it 10-4.

“We still found ways to put the ball away,” Ives said. “Carley Varoni for one ended up with like 13 kills. They just really didn’t have an answer for Carley. She did really well, and the communication between Alaska (Peterson) and Carley is always good.”

Throughout the set, the Maroons’ main enemy was serving errors, turning it back over three times, and it was a Maroons’ ball served into the net that earned Bark River the first set, 25-14.

“I think, overall, when we got into games two and three, we saw some nice digs from Graci (Varoni) and Tressa (Ives) that helped the game keep going,” coach Ives said. “They had some nice plays that got the ball into the setter’s hands to help set up the hitters. After we got the jitters from game one out, games two and three started getting a little better, and we were able to get some JV girls in and get them some playtime. Kudos to them because they were fantastic.”

In the second set, the Broncos took the lead early and slowly added to its lead with small runs and aces from Varoni and Cara Zawacki.

Menominee’s Piper Monroe tried to stem the tide with a few kills of her own but couldn’t keep up with the Broncos’ assault.

“Piper was nice and aggressive in the front,” Betzinger said. “Rylee (Wickstrom) had some good blocks — some nice key blocks. They fought hard. My seniors fought hard knowing this was their last night. I’ve got nine seniors on the team, so it’s going to be a big rebuilding year next year.”

Bark River collected the second set, 25-10, on a Menominee misplay after a longer volley despite a block from the Maroons’ Laura Magrane.

The third set saw the Maroons take an early 3-1 lead, but BR-H regained the lead with a short run from Tressa Ives and refused to give it up after.

Leading 11-5, the Broncos sealed the third set, and the playoff win, after an eight-point run helmed by Varoni, with kills from Peterson and Fredrick, to lead 20-5.

A kill and a reaching penalty cut the Maroons’ deficit to 20-7, but another serving error turned it back over to BR-H.

Peterson finished the match with a kill for the Broncos and ensured BR-H hosted Iron Mountain come Wednesday.

“The team did really well tonight supporting each other and building each other up,” Betzinger said. “They know what they need to do, and they try to help each other do it and try to work together. The girls worked hard, and I’m proud of them. I wish we would’ve seen more success for their sake, but we did see a lot of improvement as the season went on. That shows in the work they did.”

Bark River hosts Iron Mountain Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a district semifinal.

“We played them (Iron Mountain) at the very beginning of the season in a tournament, and we split,” coach Ives said. “We haven’t seen them since. They’ve grown, we’ve grown, and we’re going to go in blind — both of us. Hopefully, our fans turn out. They make a big difference when they’re yelling and screaming and the gym is loud.”

“We have some communication things we can clean up, and I felt like our serve-receive was not great in game one. We are typically a really good serve-receive team, but that’s what happens when you come out slow and lagging.”