Ishpeming’s Emma Poirier in action in the game against West Iron County Tuesday night Oct. 15th, 2019 at Ishpeming Highschool. (Journal photo by Amy Grigas)

ISHPEMING — The West Iron County High School varsity volleyball team rolled through Ishpeming with ease at the Hematites’ gym on Tuesday night.

The Wykons won in straight sets 25-18, 25-13 and 25-17, completing the season sweep of Ishpeming in dual match play.

The performance was backed by a 13-kill, two-ace night from senior Courtney Reitmeyer to lead the Wykons offensively. Senior Mya Grubbs also added six kills and four aces.

West Iron head coach Brenda Grubbs said consistency was key from her crop of upperclassmen, who led the way on both sides of the ball.

“They played well and I thought that we came together as a team,” she said. “Stats were kind of all over the place, and we had a consistent showing from Courtney, who was set up by Mya all the time as the setter. Our seniors led it, but we also had a lot of play coming on from our juniors McKenna Kegley as our second setter and Jordan Shamion as the alternate middle. We kind of came out and played well I thought.”

Kegley added five kills and two aces offensively, while also contributing with five digs on defense. Shamion finished with three kills and three aces.

The Hematites’ only lead of the evening came in the third and final set, scoring the first point on a lift by the Wykons and later, going up 3-1 with a kill from junior Madisyn Mead along the way.

Ishpeming’s biggest advantage of the set was four on multiple occasions early on, forcing West Iron to climb its way out of a hole against a Hematites squad that wasn’t going down without a fight.

Grubbs said a trend with her team throughout the season has been always seeming to struggle in at least one set per match. That was the third set on Tuesday, and she was forced to regroup her team after falling into a 14-10 deficit at one point.

“I just kind of said to play your game, but you have to start with a pass,” she said. “You have to make a pass off the serve and I think (Ishpeming) started playing some tricky ball. They’d send it over on the second hit and stuff like that, which got us a little off. It was just about staying low, staying in your athletic stance and be ready for anything. That kind of helped dig us out of it because we were kind of clustered there for a while.”

The Wykons tallied the next four points and tied the match at 14-14 on an ace from Mya Grubbs, forcing Ishpeming into a timeout.

West Iron earned the next two points out of the timeout, and later, went up 19-16.

The Wykons never looked back from there. Ishpeming notched its final point of the night on an ace from senior Tia Mattila, but West Iron finished things off with the final six points and an ace from Reitmeyer to clinch the match.

Ishpeming fell into a 20-12 hole in Set 1 before climbing back to make it a four-point game at 22-18. The Wykons prevailed with the final three points, ending the set on an ace from senior Lexi Pellizzer.

Set 2 was an easier one for the Wykons, limiting the Hematites to 13 points and ending it on a kill from Reitmeyer.

Pellizzer added three kills, while Mya Grubbs led the Wykons defensively with seven digs. Pellizzer added six digs in the defensive category.

Ishpeming head coach Katt Beerling declined to comment on the loss.

The Hematites were led offensively by senior Emma Poirier with five kills, while sophomore Olivia Corp added four. Poirier and sophomore Hannah Deloughary were put to work on defense, each leading the way with 12 digs. Senior Tia Mattila added eight assists and two kills on offense.

West Iron competes with Iron Mountain at home on Thursday, while Ishpeming travels to Hancock.

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.