SAULT STE. MARIE — It’s hard to top perfection, especially on the first day of your season.

That’s what happened to the Marquette Senior High School volleyball team, which compiled a 14-0 set record while sweeping all seven of its matches at the Sault Ste. Marie Invitational on Saturday.

The Redettes culminated their day with a 25-18, 25-21 over fellow Class A school Petoskey in the championship match to capture the title.

“I’m very proud of the girls for their play,” MSHS head coach Ann Crandell-Williams said after her team already boasts a 7-0 record. “Their serving was outstanding and passing was very strong for the first outing of the year.

“They really, really played well as a single unit.”

The win in the title match came right after Marquette swept Indian River Inland Lakes 25-16, 25-11 in the semifinals, and that match followed a perfect 10-0 sweep in pool play.

In the pool, the Redettes opened with their two closest sets of the day, defeating Inland Lakes 25-23, 25-15 and the host Blue Devils 25-23, 25-9. Then came a 25-12, 25-16 win over Rogers City, 25-21, 25-14 victory over Petoskey and a 25-11, 25-19 triumph past another Class A school, Alpena.

The engine for Marquette’s offense, and to a degree its defense, continues to start with senior outside hitter Seiler Hruska.

An all-state player as named by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association in December, Hruska compiled a team-leading 49 kills with just 13 errors over the 14 sets, while also making an MSHS-high 47 digs, too. Her statistics also show her making eight service aces, five blocks and four set assists.

While Hruska led the way, she had plenty of offensive help. Senior middle blocker Maria Millado had 33 kills and a team-high .448 hitting percentage as she had only seven errors there, but where she really shone was on defense with 26 of the team’s 47 blocks, along with 36 digs. She tacked on eight aces and seven assists.

Senior Taylor Marquardt was third in kills with 19 while contributing 16 digs, seven aces and two blocks.

Senior setter Katelyn Dunleavy had 102 assists, 22 digs, four aces and three kills; while senior Arlie Kulbieda made 16 kills, a team-high 13 aces, seven digs and five blocks; senior Roxy Nelson had 12 kills, 10 aces, five blocks and five digs; senior Ella Jezewski 12 digs, two aces and a block; Hetty Fuess six aces, five kills and two digs; and Cora Anderson five kills and a block. Piper Lakenen and Arimae Holder, who had nine digs, each had seven assists.

The Redettes turn around and held back to the Soo for a dual match against Blue Devils at 7 p.m. Tuesday before continuing south to take part in the Traverse City Central Round Robin on Wednesday morning.

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