Wykons defeat Eskymos in four sets
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ESCANABA -- The U.P. State Fair wasn't the only entertainment in town here Wednesday as the Escanaba Esckymos played host to the West Iron County Wykons. The Wykons got the best of the Eskymos in the coaching debut of Madelyn Schmutzler as they defeated Escanaba 25-20, 25-12, 12-25, 25-21.
"I was able to see the girls in practice and get an idea of what they could do," Schmutzler said. "We have made a lot of progress from the start of last week."
Bristol Shamion was on fire for the Wykons as she posted a total of 15 kills on the night. The Wykons and Eskymos kept things close early as Esky held a 12-10 lead before the Wykons went on a six-point scoring run highlighted by a trio of aces from senior Kyla Erickson to put the Wykons up 17-12.
The Eskymos cut the deficit to two on a pair of aces by senior Brooklyn Beauchamp and then cut the deficit to one at 18-17 but could never regain the lead as they dropped the first set.
In the second set it was all Wylons as they raced out to an early 7-1 lead behind a pair of aces by junior Addison Bortolameolli.
Escanaba responded scoring the next four points including a pair of aces by Beauchamp who had six on the night to cut the deficit to 7-5. The Wykons scored 13 of the next 16 points to extend their lead to 20-8 on their way to taking the second set.
The Eskymos found their groove during the third set as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead with a pair of aces by Sarah Carter. The Wykons cut the deficit to 12-7 on a pair of kills by Shamion. The Eskymos scored 8 of the next 12 points to take a 20-11 lead and closed out the third set scoring six of the final seven points.
"We are only a week into our season which is not much compared to other years," Eskymos coach Beverly Ziebell said. "West Iron has a talented team and got some big blocks up front. We also had a hard time hitting the ball against them and hd to resort to tipping and we also had a lot of hitting errors but that will get better with time.
The fourth set was the best set of the night as the Wykons jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then extended the lead to 13-7 on a kill by Shamion, Escanaba answered scoring seven of the next eight points to tie the game at 14. The Wykons scored six of the next seven points to take a 20-15 lead as they went on to take the set.
Escanaba will be back in action Wednesday as they host Marquette.