Marquette's Hetty Fuess hits the ball over in the third set of a high school volleyball match played against Kingsford at the Redettes' gym on Oct. 20, 2022. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

GWINN — Negaunee and Marquette rolled to high school volleyball victories in their respective conferences on Thursday night to keep their records solidly above .500.

The Miners won at Gwinn in three sets, 25-11, 25-15, 25-11, while Marquette won at home against Escanaba, 25-23, 25-16, 24-26, 25-14.

The three Marquette County schools are back in action tonight, with Gwinn traveling to Marquette at 7 p.m., while Negaunee hosts Hancock at 6:45 p.m.

Here are recaps from Thursday’s matches:

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Negaunee 3, Gwinn 0

At Gwinn, the Miners also won the JV and freshmen matches in straight sets, the JV 25-19, 25-13 and the freshmen 25-18, 25-23.

“We had a great display of true team play (Thursday),” NHS head coach Krista Squiers said in an email detailing her result. “The girls stayed disciplined throughout the match and maintained great focus. We’ve worked hard at practice to start and stay aggressive with our play and (Thursday) we executed very well.”

Ashley Bell led the Negaunee attack with eight kills as she added five service aces and a block. Teammate Marisa Hird had four aces and nine digs, Rylee Hanner five digs and 12 assists and Janelle Rautiola six digs and nine assists.

The MHSAA website shows the Miners improving to 9-7-1 overall and 4-1 in the West PAC.

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Marquette 3, Escanaba 1

At Marquette, MSHS improved to 13-9-1 overall and 2-1 in the Great Northern Conference as head coach Ann Crandell-Williams credited strong serving for the positive result.

“It felt great to get a solid win under our belt,” the coach said in an email detailing the result. “Our players approached this match with confidence and that really showed in their play. Our serving game was very strong, and putting constant pressure on Esky that way helped us stay on the offensive throughout much of the match.

“I appreciate Escanaba’s relentless defense and they definitely pushed us at times, especially in that third set when we had a player go down and had a pretty major lineup scramble.

“Our team knows that the mental aspect is a big part of our game this year, and the goal was to just stay calm and play our game, and they did that well. I also liked how well-rounded our offense was throughout the match, as everyone chipped in a few kills and that shows our overall team strength.”

Jessica Gooch led the MSHS offense with nine kills, and with just two errors, a .368 hitting percentage. Teammate Ava Maki added eight kills, a team-high four service aces and six digs.

Jaylee Dellies had a monster defensive night, making a team-high 21 digs to go with three aces.

And Alyson McCarthy had 34 assists, Roegen Hruska seven digs and two kills, Jocelyn Mead six digs and five kills, Cece Fuller six digs, Olivia Mackie six kills and Brianna Jarvis four kills. Mead also had a .444 hitting percentage.

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