Escanaba senior Ava Stalboeger attempts to make a play against Kingsford on Oct. 21, 2025 at Escanaba High School. (Adam Hinch/Daily Press)

ESCANABA — It was a tough night on the volleyball court for the Escanaba Eskymos as they fell in straight sets, (25-16, 26-24, 25-14) to Kingsford here Tuesday.

“It was a tough one for us tonight,” Eskymos coach Beverly Ziebell said. “The momentum slowed down for us once we lost the second set and we had a hard time getting our energy level back up.”

The Flivvers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second set before the Eskymos answered with three straight points to tie the game. After a kill by junior Mylee Kreider gave the Flivvers a 4-3 lead. Escanaba senior Ava Stalboeger came up with back-to-back kills to put the Eskymos up 5-4. The Eskymos scored five of the next seven points to extend the lead to 10-6.

The Flivvers fought back scoring four of the next five points to cut the deficit to 11-10. The Eskymos rattled off five of the next seven points including an ace from senior Landry Bray and the Eskymos led 16-12.

Kingford answered with a five-point scoring run to put the Flivvers up 18-16.

“We were a completely different team then we were last week in Gladstone,” Flivvers coach Jaclynn Kreider said. “We came in with a lot of energy and the girls knew there would be some big conference games this week and they knew they had to come out and play aggressive and they did that well tonight.”

The Eskymos scored five of the next six points to take the lead back at 21-19. Kingsford later tied the game at 24 on an ace by senior Adelyn Normand. Kingsford sealed it with a well placed kill by Mylee Kreider to put the Flivvers up two sets to zero and took away the momentum the Eskymos were building.

“I feel like we had really strong momentum tonight,” Mylee Kreider said. “We got down a little bit but we pushed through and got our momentum back up and that was big for us as a team.”

In the third set, the Eskymos jumped out to an early 5-3 lead, however the Flivvers answered back scoring 12 of the next 14 points to take a 16-7 lead.Kingsford freshman Staysha Jarski had three kills during that span and finished with six on the night.

“It was super fun out there tonight,” Jarski said. “This win really builds our growth as a team and gets us confidence going into districts.”

The Eskymos will be back in action tonight as they host Menominee.