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High school volleyball: Ishpeming outlasts Westwood, Gwinn falls in 5 sets to Calumet

ISHPEMING — Ishpeming High School prevailed in the end over Westwood in a seesaw high school volleyball match, winning in five sets, 26-24, 24-26, 21-25, 25-21, 15-8.

“I’m very proud of how everyone on the (Ishpeming) team played,” Hematites coach Katt Beerling said. “We fell flat at times, but all pulled together to beat Westwood in a very intense match with lots of long, aggressive volleys. We combined for 97 digs, 46 kills, eight blocks and 16 aces.

“(Thursday) was really a team effort and I’m looking forward to watching this team build upon what happened on the court. It’s nice to see the things we work on at practice help us be successful during a match.”

Junior Madisyn Mead and senior Emma Poirier led the Hematites offense as Mead had 13 kills with just four attack errors and Poirier had 11.

Mead added three aces, six digs and a block, while Poirier also had 20 digs, two aces and a block.

But Ishpeming (5-20) spread out its statistical numbers.

Sophomore Olivia Corp led on defense with six total blocks to go with six kills, two aces and three digs, while sophomore Hannah Deloughary pitched in with a team-high 22 digs.

Junior Ava Koepsel had 16 digs and three aces, while fellow junior Daisy Croschere had 14 digs.

Senior Tia Mattila added 28 set assists, eight kills, 11 digs, two blocks and four aces, as junior Rylee Harris had four kills and two digs.

Sophomore Maddy McNab added four kills, two aces and three digs.

Both teams are back on the court on Monday. Ishpeming hosts West Iron County while Westwood travels to Hancock.

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Calumet 3, Gwinn 2

At Gwinn, the Modeltowners evened the match twice at were tied midway through the final set before visiting Calumet pulled away in the end.

The Copper Kings prevailed, 25-9, 10-25, 25-23, 17-25, 15-10 as Gwinn fell to 18-10-2 overall and 4-1 in the West PAC.

“All in all, it was a great night and I am very proud of how we played,” GHS coach Toni Roberts said.

“Any time your team can take a Calumet team five sets is a good day.

“This was the best all-around night for my team. They played with a lot of heart and left it all out on the court. They can hold their heads high after that (match).”

Momentum changed as the sets did.

“(In the) first set Calumet controlled the game,” Roberts said. “(In the) second set we came back ready to play. We handled their serves with much more ease and were able to create runs of our own. Elliina Miilu served 11 straight (points) for us with two aces and really broke us away from Calumet for the win.

“Set 5 we traded points being tied at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Then our serve receive took a hit as Calumet took a serving run on us”

She was quite excited about Miilu’s serving early.

“Elliina hasn’t ever had a run like that for us,” Roberts said of her 11 straight points in the second set. “She served tough for us all night and it was really great to see.”

Miilu finished with three aces, two kills, 15 digs and three blocks, while Emily Curtice and teammates Marissa Delmont and Tianna Taylor each led the Gwinn offense with 10 kills apiece. Delmont didn’t have an attack error, either.

Delmont also had 31 set assists, two aces and 18 digs, while Curtice added 26 digs, seven assists and an ace and Taylor contributed two aces and 12 digs.

Halle Beauchamp made eight kills and three digs, while Megan Ruokolainen had 20 digs, three blocks, four kills and four assists.

The Modeltowners play at Manistique on Tuesday for a nonconference match.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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