The Escanaba volleyball team celebrates a home win over Gladstone on Sept. 7, 2023 at Escanaba High School.

ESCANABA — With high energy from the crowd, it came as no surprise that Escanaba and Gladstone were battling in some sort of athletic event on Thursday.

This time, it was volleyball. This time, it was the Eskymos winning 28-26, 25-18, 15-25, 25-17.

“We’re pretty determined here at home to hold our own,” Esky coach Adam Lambert said. “A little sloppy on some things, but we’re gonna call it “the season’s New Year.” (We have) great athletes on the court. We just have to make sure we make them one team.”

While Esky brought the heat like a flame-throwing pitcher in baseball, the swings weren’t connecting in play. With enough furiously-stricken balls falling out of bounds or in the net, Gladstone opened a 19-14 advantage.

Then a big swing connected.

The Eskymos rallied behind a 6-1 run to tie the set at 20. After five tied scores, Esky supplied the final two points to claim the opening frame 28-26.

In between sets, Gladstone coach Kaitlyn Hardwick made it clear in the huddle that the Braves could not let up. They had to keep their foot on the pedal.

“I feel like their energy just pumped up,” Hardwick said. “They have confidence. They know that they were in this game because I think we got in their heads a little bit. We got to do things that we didn’t usually do in the past where we got to do a couple trick plays off three balls.”

The Eskymos struck early and often in set two, opening a 20-8 lead. Then the Braves clapped back, rattling off four-straight points to force an Esky timeout.

The Eskymos earned the first point out of the break, but Gladstone refused to ease up, pulling the score to 21-17.

Esky ultimately claimed four of the frame’s final five points for a 25-18 win.

Trailing 2-0, Gladstone opened a 7-1 lead to start set three, forcing an Eskymo timeout. The Braves refused to ease up, and Esky’s hitting woes came back, giving the purple and white a 25-15 win in the frame.

Behind 7-0 and 11-5 runs, Esky opened a 22-11 advantage in set four. Gladstone refused to back down, claiming six of the set’s next eight points to pull to 23-17. The Eskymos claimed the final two points of the set to win the match in four sets.

Esky’s Grayson LaMarche tallied seven kills and a pair of aces. Andrea Cerma and Katey Lamb each earned six kills with the former adding a pair of aces and the latter adding one ace. Clara Braun earned 11 assists while Cerma added nine helpers and five digs. Carly McInerney totaled a team-best nine digs. Harlee Coolman added seven digs.

Even with the win, Lambert was happy to see how the Braves have progressed so far in 2023.

“They’ve been really changing their program,” Lambert admitted after the win over Esky’s rival. “(Gladstone coach Kaitlyn) Hardwick is gonna do a great job with the varsity squad. They came out tonight, they wanted to win every set and they put pressure on every one of our sets.T hey’re just growing and growing. You gotta give it up for Gladstone.

Gladstone sophomore Lillie Johnson led the Braves with seven kills and a pair of aces. Junior Adie Tyran added three kills and an ace. Sophomore Maev Hanson earned two aces. Senior Kennedy Sanville added one kill. Junior Alli Larson added an ace.

“I’ve always said that they have heart,” Hardwick said of the Braves. “You can see that. It continues. I’m happy to be here. I’m glad I get to coach this group.”