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Mustang stampede: Munising tops Lake Linden, moves on to regional final

Munising's Taylor Downs slides forward on her knees to receive a Lake Linden-Hubbell serve in the fourth set of their match. Looking on is teammate Kaila Cotey. Munising won, 3-1, to advance to Thursday’s regional championship game. (Photo courtesy of Daryl T. Jarvinen)

ISHPEMING — The last time that the Munising volleyball team played a MHSAA Division 4 tournament match at Westwood High School, it ended up with a regional championship as the Mustangs stampeded their way on to the state semifinals.

On Thursday, Munising will get the chance to accomplish that feat again as it rolled past Lake Linden-Hubbell 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-17, 25-13) in the regional semifinal Tuesday night to move on to the regional final.

“I thought we played really well together,” Munising senior Taylor Downs said. “I thought we had a couple of down points and that affected us a little bit, but we came together at the end.”

Michaela Werner led the Mustangs offensively with 28 kills, while Emily Contreras had 37 assists and Kaila Cotey had 10 service aces. Munising also had four players finish in double-digits in digs with Daryn Johnson at the top with 20. Downs chipped in 17, while Cotey had 16 and Contreras had 11.

One of the big keys for the Mustangs’ victory was communication as each player seemed to be in the right spot at the right time for most of the match.

Munising’s Senior Setter Emily Contreras celebrates a point by teammate Michaela Werner in the fourth set against the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakers. (Photo courtesy of Daryl T. Jarvinen)

“We focus on it in warmups and whenever we go outside, we say we need to talk this game because that’s probably the weakest thing we do,” Contreras said. “We don’t communicate a lot, but I think we really did this game.”

The first set was controlled by Munising as it jumped out to a 9-2 lead. Three straight kills from Werner put the Mustangs up 17-7 at one point and they cruised from there to take the frame.

Lake Linden bounced back in the second set, going up 6-1 on a block by Joslynn Perala. However, Munising rallied to tie the set at 8-8 on a kill by Werner. The set went back-and-forth for the rest of the way and three straight points from Munising pulled the Mustangs within one of the Lakes at 22-23. However, Lake Linden wasn’t fazed and got a point from Perala to close out the set.

“I think we started off strong and then we settled down, which we always do and we shouldn’t,” Contreras said.

“We lost that second one and then we realized that we were good and we can win.”

The third set was the most entertaining one of the match, although it didn’t seem that way at first. Munising looked like it was going to take the set easily as two aces from Downs and three straight points from Werner helped the Mustangs take an 8-0 advantage. Things continued to go the Mustangs’ way for a quite a while as they eventually extended their advantage to 17-3.

That’s when things started to change for the Lakes. A point from Alyssa Burton created a spark and then Lake Linden went on a huge 10-0 run with a tip from Mackenzie LePage cutting the Lakes’ deficit to three at 16-19.

Munising wouldn’t be denied though as it closed out the set with five straight points, two of which were kills by Werner.

When asked if she said something to her team during a timeout to try to fire them up to stop Lake Linden’s rally, Munising coach Ann Crandell-Williams said she didn’t have to say much.

“A lot of coaches of a lot of teams feel like you need to fire the them up with a coaching speech, but these girls, they already have high expectations for themselves and they were already very stimulated,” she said. “We have found out this season that our job is to bring them down. Our job is to keep them on a cool level, keep them recovering from mistakes and keep them from getting frustrated. The best way that they play is positive and relaxed.”

In need of a fourth set victory to keep their season alive, the Lakes got off to a solid start with five straight points. Munising answered back though with a 7-0 run that included two aces from Werner and a kill from Johnson to take a 9-6 lead.

Like the second frame, the two teams exchanged points for a while before the Mustangs caught fire again. A kill from Werner ignited a 10-0 run that included three aces from Cotey to close out both the set and the match for the Mustangs.

When asked about Werner’s huge performance, Crandell-Williams said that she’s been like that all year for the Mustangs.

“I’m not sure if she’s (Werner) had a bad match all year,” Crandell-Williams said. “I can’t think of a match where she wasn’t in double-digit kills. What’s really funny is she wasn’t an offensive force all year (long) as a junior. She really came on at the end of her junior year, but she walked onto the court her first match this year and was in double-digit kills and has been that way all season.”

Munising will take on Carney-Nadeau Thursday in a rematch from last year’s regional final. The Mustangs rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win the match in five sets and moved on to the state quarterfinals.

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