Dennis Mansfield | Iron Mountain Daily News Escanaba’s Katelyn Stalboerger (23) spikes the ball against Manistique Saturday in Kingsford.

KINGSFORD — Prep volleyball teams usually begin their seasons with multi-team invitationals as a way of playing several matches during one day to speed up preparation for their conference and dual-match regular seasons.

Locally, the first such event of the 2022 campaign was the Kingsford Invitational held on Saturday at Kingsford High School. The nine-team field involved the host Flivvers, Iron Mountain, North Dickinson, Forest Park, West Iron County, Escanaba, Bark River-Harris, Manistique and Negaunee.

Kingsford led area teams by finishing second in the event, winning its first six matches before falling in the championship match of the A Division to Manistique 30-28, 25-18. The Mountaineers also swept through pool play but were upended in three sets by the Emeralds in the A Division semifinals.

Meanwhile, Escanaba defeated Bark River-Harris in two sets to win the B Division and finished 7-3. Forest Park split its four sets in pool play before losing to Kingsford in two sets in the A Division semifinals. West Iron County defeated North Dickinson in two sets in a B Division quarterfinal before being eliminated by the Eskymos in two sets as the Wykons left with a 2-6 record.

Bark River-Harris finished 3-6, while Negaunee won two of its six matches and North Dickinson finished at 0-6.

The champion Emeralds dropped a set to Iron Mountain in both pool play and in the A Division semifinals to finish 8-2.

For the Flivvers, it was a day that showcased both their talent and their youth. Coming in with a lineup that included five sophomores, the Flivvers improved through the day, with their only hiccup coming in the finals. Unfortunately for the hosts, that hiccup came in the finals when they built a 23-17 lead over Manistique only to see the Emeralds storm back with six straight points.

“That was the bummer right there,” Kingsford coach Jaclynn Kreider said. “We had that lead, and had we taken that (set), that could have been critical for us.

“But at the same time, we’re a super young team, so I think that today went better than I expected it to, knowing that. We’re throwing a lot of new things at them, and some of these kids have not played together at all. So, I think overall (the day) was successful.”

One of the standout players of the event was Kreider’s daughter Maddie. The sophomore setter/hitter, a Great Northern Conference first-team selection last year, displayed all the talent, court awareness and potential she carries at this young stage of her career. Kreider was the player that the Flivvers often turned to in the final match, and she responded brilliantly.

“I don’t like to about anybody individually, especially not my own,” Coach Kreider said. “But it’s a tough situation that she’s in, being young, being the coach’s daughter. We’re asking her to do a lot. She’s hitting in positions that she doesn’t do in club (volleyball).”

But the coach doesn’t want the team to become overly reliant on Maddie.

“Because she has experience and because of her playing club, a lot of people are looking to her, and I don’t want them to do that. We have other kids who can step up.”

The three seniors — Elaina Bortolini, Alexis DalSanto and Laura Bracket — figure to be a vital part of the Flivvers’ success this year, along with the juniors and the promising sophomores, who won the freshman GNC title last year with an 8-0 record.

For the Mountaineers, the day was quite productive, namely being the only squad that beat the talented and big Emeralds during the event. Varsity assistant and junior varsity coach Emma Thomann, who ran the team in the absence of head coach Jeanne Newberry, said she was somewhat apprehensive about how the Mountaineers would play in the tournament after a sub-par practice on Friday.

But Iron Mountain showed it can be a very competitive team this fall.

“The main thing we have to work on is communication,” Thomann said. “Honestly, when our communication goes down, we go down pretty hard. If we can nail that communication, we are pretty solid.”

Escanaba was up and down on the day, splitting six games in pool play before sweeping West Iron and Bark River-Harris in the B Division tournament.

“Overall, we showed that we are a team that had six practices (coming in),” Esky coach Adam Lambert said. “So we’re shaking off the rust.

“We’ve got a lot of talent, and I’m excited for this season, but we kind of knew that today was going to be one of those days to show them how much rust they’ve got to shake off and what our competitors have.”

The Eskymos certainly have the middle hitter position covered. Senior Katelyn Stalboerger and sophomore Grayson LaMarche are surely going to give opponents some headaches this season.

“We’ve watched our two middles grow through our program,” Lambert said. “One of our middles is a sophomore, so we’ve got her for two more years (after this year). And this is Stalboerger’s last year, and I think she really wants to leave a legacy for our volleyball program.”

So with the season’s first event under their belts, local volleyball teams will continue their early-season play and figure player roles. Some of the teams, including Kingsford, have much to look forward to.

“This is going to be an exciting team in a couple of years,” coach Kreider said. “I mean, we’re not very big, and we’re young, but they just keep getting better, and they’re super coachable kids. I keep talking about our learning curve being steep, but today I think we climbed it very quickly, and I’m just super proud of them.”