Westwood’s Mollie Stille, front, bumps the ball while teammate Caitlyn Tasson looks on during a high school volleyball match played against Gladstone on Tuesday at the Braves’ gym. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Austin Hemmingson)

GLADSTONE — The Gladstone Braves had a little extra motivation in their volleyball match against Westwood here Tuesday.

“I told them if they won by a sizable margin in the first two sets, they could do their crazy rotation they wanted to do (in the third set),” Braves’ coach Bill Lawrence said.

That motivation appeared to pay off as the Braves got back in the win column with a three-set nonconference triumph, 25-15, 25-14, 25-11.

Chloe Grenier and Ahna Larson helped the Braves (3-4) get things rolling with service runs early in the first set. Grenier went on a four-point run to make it 6-3, and shortly after Larson went on a six-point run to make it 13-5.

The Patriots (0-6) responded with a five-point run by Livvie Wood to chop their deficit to 15-13, but the Braves rolled off 10 of the final 12 points to earn the set.

The second set was similar, with Makayla Sanville going on a four-point run to make it 5-0 and Alissa Sanville going on a five-point run to make it 15-4.

Whichever rotation Gladstone wanted to use in the final set didn’t seem to matter as the Braves jumped out to a 10-2 lead and won the set and the match on an ace by Makayla Sanville.

The win came at a good time for the Braves, who lost their previous two matches and were swept by Marquette on Monday.

It was a frustrating night for Patriots’ coach Milton Braga, who thought his team could have played better.

“When they listen to me, you can see them make good plays,” he said. “Then they’ll make a play where you go, ‘What? What happened?’ As a coach, I told them I’m very disappointed because they can be better, and they are better than that.

“Disappointed might not be the word, but I’m frustrated because I know they want to win so bad and I know they can play better than that. But sometimes they don’t bring it to the court.”

Kaitlin Ackland led the Patriots with five kills and a block. Wood served two aces while Mollie Stille had two digs.

The Braves won the JV match 2-1.

Westwood visits Manistique on Thursday.