Escanaba seior Chloe Dubord delivers a serve against Gladstone on Sept. 23, 2025 at Gladstone High School. (Adam Hinch/Daily Press)

ESCANABA — Escanaba was on the victorious side of a Great Northern Conference volleyball match as they defeated Gladstone in four sets, (25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23) here Tuesday.

“They gave us a battle tonight,” Eskymos coach Beverly Ziebell said. “There were moments where we had a hard time getting the ball set up and we also had a little bit of miscommunication here and there.”

The Braves jumped out to an early 5-3 lead, but the Eskymos responded to tie the game at five on a kill by senior Susie Moberg.

The game went back and forth with five ties and five lead changes. The Eskymos broke the 10-10 tie on a kill by senior Mary Kate Tourangeau. The Eskymos scored eight of the next 10 points to extend the lead to 19-12. Senior Chole Dubord had a pair of aces over that span and Mara Anderson and Brooklyn Beauchamp each had a kill during that time.

The Braves cut the deficit to six at 23-17 but were not able to close the gap.

In the second set, Gladstone took an early 10-4 lead, highlighted by a four-point serving run by junior Mercedes Koski. The Braves had a six-point serving run by senior Natallie Cartwright including a pair of aces to extend the Braves lead to 18-7.

The Eskymos scored 14 of the next 18 points including a pair of aces by Beauchamp to cut the Braves lead to one at 22-21. The Braves answered, scoring three of the last four points to take the set.

In the third set, Gladstone scored the first three points but the Eskymos responded scoring 14 of the next 15 points highlighted by six aces by senior Landry Bray during a seven-point serving run to put the Eskymos up 14-4.

“I knew we had to get going,” Bray said. “Our energy was low early on and we knew we had to get it up. My serve hasn’t been on but I knew I had to get this for my team so I was just picking spots and trying hard to hit those spots and the team really fed off that.”

The Braves did score six of the last eight points in the set but the Eskymos held on taking the set 25-22.

In the fourth set, the Eskymos led 6-5 when the Braves went on a five-point serving run with a huge kill by senior Lillie Johnson to put the Braves up 11-6.

The teams continued to battle with eight ties and and three lead changes down the stretch. The Eskymos closed out the set scoring the last three points to take the match.

The Eskymos return to action tonight as they travel to Marquette.