Gwinn’s Megan Ruokolainen, top, spikes the ball against Kingsford’s Kate Cook during the championship match of the The Rock invitational held Saturday at Gladstone High School. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Justin St. Ours)

GLADSTONE — A long day of play laid the foundation for a come-from-behind victory here Saturday as No. 4-seeded Kingsford beat Gwinn in the championship match to capture the title at The Rock invitational held at Gladstone High School.

The finals between the Flivvers and Modeltowners came down to a third set after a dominant first set win by the Flivvers, 25-10, and a narrow Gwinn win, 25-23, in the second set.

In the third and deciding set, the Modeltowners tied it 7-7 after trailing early. A block at the net gave Gwinn the lead, and it built on that momentum to take a 21-13 lead.

Kingsford’s Maggie Strehlow won back possession and some momentum with a tip kill. The Flivvers reduced their deficit to 21-17 until the Modeltowners’ Megan Ruokolainen broke their streak, Then Kingsford ran off another four points on Lexi Roberge’s serve to tie it 22-22.

Gwinn’s Maddy Holmes gave the Modeltowners the lead back with a tip, but a service error into the net tied it again and gave the serve back to the Flivvers.

Back-to-back kills by Strehlow — who was the lone Kingsford selection to the all-tournament team — and Kate Cook sealed the set, the match and the tournament.

“We started out hot in the first set,” Flivvers coach Jaclynn Kreider said. “In the second set, I think we got into a lull. We were getting in our own heads, and our energy levels went down.

“I think we’re a team that needs a lot of energy, so we don’t allow ourselves to get into our own heads and lose momentum.”

Gwinn needed three sets to win its semifinal match over Houghton, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21.

“We were actually even questioning if we would get out of pool play, then we tied for the second or third spot,” Gwinn coach Toni Roberts said. “It was a good turnaround after a shaky pool play.

“We were able to fire up when we got into the brackets. I think when we play against higher-level teams, we play up to their ability, but we have a tendency to play down a level (if we aren’t challenged).”

Houghton remained in control for the majority of the final set in the semis, leading 19-16. Back-to-back kills by Ruokolainen and Gwinn teammate Emily Curtice left the Modeltowners trailing by one, 19-18. Gwinn eventually tied it 20-20 on an ace from Emily Mannor and capped the set with a four-point run by Marissa Delmont.

“We started really rough,” Gremlins coach John Christianson said. “We played horribly against Escanaba, but then as the day went on, we seemed to catch on and figure out what we needed to do. In this last match, we were too timid.”

The Flivvers made it to the finals match after an upset win over Escanaba in the semifinals, 27-25, 25-13. Esky, which had earlier swept the Flivvers in pool play, went 8-0 in the qualifying stage of the tourney to earn the top seed.

“(In the semifinals) we just tried to tell the girls to play with confidence,” Kreider said. “We knew we could play better than when we saw them in pool play, so they could go in there confident and battle them.

“I just wanted the girls to go in there with high energy and put what happened in pool play behind them, or if they had to think about it, to use it to help drive them.”

While the Eskymos were a perfect 8-0 in pool play, Gwinn, Houghton, Kingsford and Gladstone all went 5-3, with Rapid River going 3-5, Westwood and Norway 2-6 and Ishpeming 1-7.

Joining Strehlow on the all-tournament team, as chosen by a vote of the coaches, were Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin and Jalin Olson and Houghton’s Paige Defore, Daityn Markham and Rachael Hal.