Prep Sports

Aces in the hole: Gwinn volleyball team uses strong serving to sweep Manistique

“I think as long as we stay healthy and stay focused, we're going to have a very strong season.” -- Toni Roberts, head coach, Gwinn volleyball

—————-

GWINN -- For the last several years, the Gwinn volleyball team has gone through some rebuilding, but on Tuesday night, it appeared as if that period had come to an end.

The Modeltowners dispatched Manistique in a three-set sweep that lasted little more than an hour, 25-9, 25-16, 25-15.

Tierra Taylor led Gwinn with six kills, while Brenna Bruce had five kills and 11 assists and Trisha McGuire had seven digs.

Gwinn used strong serving to break out on a 13-0 run in the first set and kept rolling from that point on.

"Tonight I really pushed the girls to play at their own level the whole way through," Modeltowners head coach Toni Roberts said. "We played in a tournament Saturday and we played teams that weren't at our level and we didn't play at our level, so I really pushed that.

"I have huge hopes for these girls and I think as long as we stay healthy and stay focused, we're going to have a very strong season."

For Manistique, it was just a tough night all around as the Emeralds struggled to handle Gwinn's offensive attack and couldn't generate much offense themselves until the third set.

"We really struggled communicating tonight and we definitely didn't play like ourselves," Emeralds head coach Amy Nixon said. "We usually are more talkative and our movement is better, but tonight that didn't happen. So we're going to have to figure that out.

"This season is a process because we have a lot of young players and we're inexperienced. So we're still learning, but I feel like we can be really competitive. We just didn't show it tonight."

Emilee McDaniel led Manistique with four kills, while Sydny Peterson had 13 digs and Joslyn Muth eight assists.

In the first set, Gwinn got going early and with the help of good serving from Emily Curtice, the Modeltowners quickly took control. During Gwinn's big run, Curtice picked up three aces and led her squad with five for the night.

"Emily really set the pace for the match," Roberts said. "She's an outstanding server and she showed that. We've been working a lot on that as a team and we've had very few errors."

Thanks to that run, the Modeltowners ran off with the first set and kept going into the second.

The middle set was a little closer as Manistique led for the first few points, including a nice kill from Renae Schuetter. However, Gwinn rallied with five straight points, including kills from Bruce and Taylor, to put the Modeltowners ahead 12-9.

The Emeralds attempted a comeback early in the third set as Lenna Smith picked up three straight service aces and a kill from McDaniel that put Manistique up 7-5.

However, the visitors couldn't hold on to the slim advantage as Gwinn went on a 7-0 run with kills from both Bruce and Taylor and an ace from McGuire to take control of the set and help nail down the sweep.

"Gwinn has good servers and we struggled to set up balls to attack back," Nixon said. "We have girls who can hit the ball well, but unfortunately, we couldn't get the ball to them."

Manistique hosts Gladstone Thursday, while the Modeltowners don't play again until Tuesday when they travel to Westwood.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.