ISHPEMING — The Carney-Nadeau High School volleyball team has become known as one of the best programs in the Upper Peninsula for the last few years.

It did nothing to tarnish that reputation on Tuesday night as the Wolves swept Mid Peninsula in three sets, 25-18, 25-10, 25-11, in an MHSAA Division 4 regional semifinal match at Westwood High School. C-N will take on Chassell at Forest Park High School in Crystal Falls tonight.

“We played them twice this year already,” Wolves head coach Steve Kedsch said. “We know they’re a scrappy team. I think we felt confident if we could pass the ball well tonight and get our offense going, then I think we felt pretty good about that.

“But in the beginning, they were serving tough and they kept us out of our offense. They kept it close. They’re a scrappy team and they don’t ever give up.”

Liana Blahnik led the Wolves with 16 kills and three aces, while Haley Ernest had 42 assists. Mackenzie Walcher was C-N’s defensive leader with 14 digs.

MP head coach Emily Kayser knew that taking down C-N would be a tough task for her squad going into the match and was proud of her for hanging with the Wolves through all three sets.

“Honestly, Carney is the best team around right now,” she said. “They’re probably one of the better teams in the whole U.P. I don’t want to sit here and dwell on everything that we could’ve done or should’ve done. These girls had a heck of a season and I couldn’t be more proud of them this year.

“To win back-to-back districts, that was our main goal and that’s what we did, so we’re happy with that.”

Landry Koski was the Wolverines’ offensive leader with nine kills, while Daisy Englund had 14 assists and two aces. Kora Prater was MP’s defensive leader with 20 digs.

In the first set, the two teams traded points before the Wolves got four straight to take a 13-8 lead including a kill from Taylor Kedsch. The Wolverines cut C-N’s lead to three at 18-15 on an ace by Englund, but Kedsch answered with a kill and the Wolves cruised the rest of the set to win it 25-18.

C-N took the second set fairly easily, building up a 14-7 advantage on a block from Heidi Kirschner. Later on, the Wolves busted loose on an 8-0 run to go up 22-9 and closed out the set at 25-10 on a kill from Kedsch.

The Wolves took that momentum into the third set, picking up six straight points to open it up. MP pulled within three of C-N on a kill by Koski at 7-4, but it was all Wolves after that. C-N built its advantage up to 10 at 20-10 before ending the set at 25-11 on an ace by Malorie Baumler.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.