The Manistique volleyball teams poses with its 2023 MHSAA Division 3 District championship trophy on Nov. 2, 2023 at Bark River-Harris High School.

HARRIS — As Manistique’s Emma Jones dropped back to serve a potential match point, the green and white faithful loudly rose to their feet.

The Emeralds were one point away from avenging 2022’s district finals loss to Bark River-Harris, the opponent in Thursday’s district title game.

After a brief back and forth, the Emeralds set up shop in their offensive end. The final blow wasn’t delivered by senior Ella Schuetter.

Instead, Junior Leah Goudreau earned the kill which cemented No. 3 Manistique’s 25-11, 25-12, 25-14 win over the Broncos at Bark River-Harris.

“We played (really well) last night, so I knew coming into tonight we were ready for this match,” Emeralds coach Amy Nixon said. “We just decided from the get go we were not going to let them take this from us. We were going to take what we deserved and earned. I’m proud of them.”

Trailing 2-0, the Broncos began to understand the gravity of the situation – it’s now or never to keep their season alive.

BR-H heard the message and understood the assignment, jumping to an immediate 6-1 lead which brought the home crowd to a frenzy, forcing the Emeralds to re-group with a timeout when trailing 5-1.

Then the green and white got the spark they needed. Goudreau delivered a kill attempt which couldn’t be handled by the Broncos front line. Mixed with a kill from Schuetter and miscues from BR-H seniors Lauren Zawada and Christina Bower, Manistique found itself tied 6-6 with the Broncos burning a timeout.

The Emeralds stayed in command out of the break. With a quartet of kills from Schuetter, a kill from Clara Cunningham and an ace from Goudreau, the Emeralds led 16-9. Sopel burned his final timeout of the stanza after an ace from Schuetter, the Emeralds led 17-9 behind an 11-3 run.

Senior Danielle Lund earned a kill out of the break, and a net violation by the Broncos gave Manistique a 19-9 lead. The Broncos claimed the next two points, but back-to-back swings from the right arms of Lund and Gourdreau were too much to handle. Paired with two BR-H miscues, Manistique pushed its advantage to 23-11 while keeping momentum in its favor inside a ruckus gym.

It was an atmosphere which was loud before the first serve was even delivered.

With the volume inside BR-H’s gym seemingly cranked up to 11, the Emeralds jumped to a 6-1 lead in the opening frame behind a floater from Lund and a block and kill from Schuetter to take an early 6-1 lead and force a BR-H timeout.

The Emeralds refused to let go of momentum coming out of the break.

With contributions from Schuetter, Lund and Goudreau Manistique found itself on a 14-7 run before the Broncos called a timeout. The Emeralds lead ballooned to 20-8 entering the one minute breather.

“The second we stepped on the floor, our energy was just through the roof,” Schuetter said. “That is something that fuels me; when I know everybody around me is excited and pumped up. That just pushes me higher and higher and higher. I think we all feed off of each other, and the way we started and took off was all all any of us needed to get going.”

Goudreau blasted an ace immediately out of the break. Schuetter earned kills for the Emeralds 23rd and 25th points to claim set one.

After a kill from Goudreau tied the second stanza at 1-1, Schuetter took over the game.

The senior rattled off a kill and back-to-back blocks to go up 4-1. Then she earned four kills in six possessions to open the lead to 9-3. She then earned a sideout and a combo block with senior Emma Jones to force a Broncos timeout with a 12-3 lead in hand.

Scheuuter earned three of the frame’s next four points with a sideout, a swing which was reminiscent of a staple gun to a block of jello and another kill to give the Emeralds a 15-4 lead before being rotated out.

Schuetter totaled 27 kills, four blocks, one dig and an ace. Lund finished with eight kills, four digs and an assist. Jones accumulated 39 helpers, seven digs, a pair of aces and a block. Cunningham amassed seven digs, two kills and a block. Maya Carlson finished with seven digs. Kamry Flodin earned 10 digs.

Despite falling in straight sets, the Broncos earned a berth in their third district title game in four seasons. The Broncos finished their season at 16-6, with their six losses coming to teams that won or are playing for a district title.

Yet, head coach William Sopel took the most pride in the Bronco’s sportsmanship.

“These girls just lost a hell of a game, and all of them are sitting and clapping while Manistique was receiving their awards. They still went out and shook their hands,” Sopel said. “They accepted that they lost. But this team has got a great level of sportsmanship. They’re always willing to compete. I’m very proud of how they handled themselves.”

Zawada finished with five kills, two blocks and two aces. Bower added five kills, two assists and two digs.

While Schuetter may have stolen the show with 27 kills, Goudreau had a quality game of her own. The junior tallied 11 kills, 11 digs, two aces and a block.

“I have put so much work in throughout these past years,” Goudreau said. “The repetition, the hard work and I started believing in myself. I’ve had a hard time with that. But I’ve started believing in myself and that really helped.”

Goudreau’s play has caught the attention of her teammates as well.

“I think she’s just unlocked a new level of herself,” Schuetter said of Goudreau. “I love her confidence when that ball is going up in the air. I can just watch her, like, levitate through the air and rip the cover right off (the ball). I would hate to be on the other side of that.

“I’m beyond proud of her, and I can’t even wait to see what she does next because this is insane. She still has a whole year and the rest of the playoffs. I’m excited to see where she goes.”

The Emeralds will play the winner of Friday’s district championship between No. 5 Hancock and No. 1 Calumet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Marquette.

“I think if we keep the energy up like this… I don’t know what else we need,” Scuetter said. “Once we are energetic and excited, I feel like we can be unstoppable.”