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Players listed with school (and year where available)

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Dream Team

Marquette junior outside hitter Ava Maki, center, sends a spike past Kingsford blockers Kailey Sundquist, left, and Alyssa Larson during their Great Northern Conference volleyball match played Oct. 19 at Flivver Gym in Kingsford. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Sean Chase)

Laina Kariniemi, Calumet, sr.

Allie Bjorn, Calumet, jr.

Ella Schuetter, Manistique, sr.

Ema Stepien, Forest Park, sr.

Ava Fisher, Forest Park, soph.

Negaunee’s Marisa Hird, left, makes her second dig of the night in the Miners’ MHSAA Division 2 district tournament volleyball match against Sault Ste. Marie on Nov. 1 at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee. Watching the play is teammate Ashley Bell. Hird would later make her 800th high school dig during the match that Negaunee won in four sets. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Jaylee Dellies, Marquette, jr.

Elisa Rizzoli, Newberry, sr.

Maddy Kreider, Kingsford, jr.

Emma Jones, Manistique, sr.

Mia Hauser, Stephenson, sr.

Ispheming's Mya Hemmer, top right, towers over Munising's Hayden Bayer as she gets a clean solo block on Bayer's kill attempt in the second set of an MHSAA Division 4 district tournament championship volleyball match at Munising on Nov. 4. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Danika Shamion, West Iron County, sr.

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Divisions 1-3 First Team

Brynn Arko, Houghton, sr.

Marisa Hird, Negaunee, sr.

Ishpeming's Sonja Kiviniemi lunges to keep the ball in play as Addison Morton looks on in the third set of an MHSAA Division 4 district tournament championship volleyball match at Munising on Nov. 4. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Brielle Kero, Hancock

Ava Maki, Marquette, jr.

Kaeda Rajala, Jeffers

Jackie Kiilunen, Calumet, jr.

Leah Goudreau, Manistique, jr.

Ishpeming's Sonja Kiviniemi digs a shot by Munising in the first set of an MHSAA Division 4 district tournament championship volleyball match at Munising on Nov. 4. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Kailey Sundquist, Kingsford, jr.

Brooke Koskela, Hancock, jr.

Lucy Huskey, Sault Ste. Marie, sr.

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Division 4 First Team

Klaire Kwiatkowski, Rudyard, sr.

Bree Delich, Ironwood, jr.

Lily Kwiatkowski, Rudyard, soph.

Leah Feldhausen, Forest Park, sr.

Samantha Kedsch, Carney-Nadeau

Charlie Larson, Forest Park, sr.

Mattie Prestin, Stephenson, sr.

Alice Hancock, Superior Central, sr.

Kayla Swanson, Stephenson, sr.

Noelle Grace, Wake.-Marenisco, soph.

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Divisions 1-3 Second Team

Andrea Cerma, Escanaba

Ellery Nash, Kingsford, jr.

Clea Ollanketo, Houghton, sr.

Lauren Zawada, Bark River-Harris

Ashley Bell, Negaunee, sr.

Sara Johnson, Jeffers

Laney Johnson, Houghton, jr.

Caitlyn Storm, Calumet, sr.

Maddie Torola, Calumet, jr.

Alyssa Larson, Kingsford, jr.

Danielle Lund, Manistique, sr.

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Division 4 Second Team

Mya Hemmer, Ishpeming, soph.

Amelia Shanely, Newberry, jr.

Audrey Franz, Forest Park, jr.

Sonja Kiviniemi, Ishpeming, jr.

Abi Codere, Lake Linden-Hubbell

Bailey Corcoran, Munising, jr.

Audra Pawlak, Ironwood, jr.

Addison Schroeder, Newberry, jr.

Jillian Fraser, St. Ignace, jr.

Makenna Hendrickson, Baraga, sr.

Chloe May, Maplewood Baptist, sr.

Irelynd McGeshick, Ewen-Trout Crk., soph.

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Special awards

Coach of the Year: Divisions 1-3, Kate Bonacorsi, Calumet; Division 4, Jackson Miller, Stephenson

Team of the Year: Divisions 1-3, Calumet; Division 4, Forest Park

Offensive Player of the Year: Divisions 1-3, Ella Schuetter, Manistique; Divison 4, Ema Stepien, Forest Park

Defensive Player of the Year: Divisions 1-3, Maddy Kreider, Kingsford;

Division 4, Elisa Rizzoli, Newberry

Miss U.P. Volleyball: Maddy Kreider, Kingsford

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Source: U.P. Sportswriters

& Sportscasters Association

———————————

MARQUETTE — The inaugural All-Upper Peninsula volleyball team will hopefully be met with acclaim and not any real amount of skepticism after players and coaches were chosen at a representative meeting of the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association at Northern Michigan University in Marquette on Wednesday.

A definite majority of those who attended the high school football meeting remained for the volleyball part afterward, with representation from just about every corner of the U.P., including eastern, central and western areas.

For this first-ever meeting, a few general guidelines were agreed upon — athletes would be picked regardless of what position they played, and also that there would be no honorable mention lists.

Still, the number of players honored was set at 50 — 10 on the Dream Team, and 20 more each in Divisions 1-3 and Division 4. There were 10 in each grouping on the First Team and 10 more on the Second Team.

And there were actually 54 selected as there were some ties on the various teams with none broken by runoff votes.

Along with their individual statistics and league honors, a team’s strength went into some of the decisions of how many to honor from certain squads.

Then some special awards were decided at the end of the meeting for both Divisions 1-3 and Division 4, including Coach of the Year, Team of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

And it all culminated in deciding who would be the all-division Miss U.P. Volleyball.

From The Mining Journal daily coverage area that includes Marquette, Alger, Baraga, Luce and Schoolcraft counties, there were two special award winners and a total of 16 players chosen for the various All-U.P. teams.

For those special awards, Ella Schuetter of Manistique was named Offensive Player of the Year in Divisions 1-3, while Elisa Rizzoli of Newberry earned Defensive Player of the Year in Division 4.

Newberry and Forest Park squaring off against each other join Calumet as the only U.P. schools remaining in the MHSAA tournament, which holds its quarterfinals tonight at locations around the state.

While Rizzoli won her honor by acclimation, Schuetter won a four-way vote, actually gaining a majority among the four vying for the honor that also included runner-up Laina Kariniemi of Calumet, Maddy Kreider of Kingsford and Allie Bjorn of Calumet.

Schuetter was also nominated for Miss U.P. Volleyball and tied for second in a three-way vote with Kreider that was ultimately won by Ema Stepien of Forest Park.

Stepien also beat out Rizzoli rather easily for Division 4’s Offensive Player of the Year, while Kreider did win Defensive Player of the Year in Divisions 1-3.

Kreider beat out two Marquette County players for her Defensive Player honor — Jaylee Dellies of Marquette and Marisa Hird of Negaunee.

Two other area coaches were up for Coach of the Year awards, too, each missing the honor by just a few votes.

Marshall Kirby of Newberry finished second in a three-way race in Division 4 as Jackson Miller of Stephenson won and Laurie Morley of Rudyard was also in the running.

In Divisions 1-3, Amy Nixon of Manistique was runner-up to Kate Bonacorsi of Calumet for that honor as Jacqueline Kreider of Kingsford was also nominated.

The Dream Team was chosen at the start of the volleyball meeting, with a look at every nominated players and a decision to pick six or seven without a vote.

Then a number of other players were nominated for the remaining slots, with any who didn’t win being named to their divison grouping’s First Team.

Four from the area make up the 11-player team, which had a tie for 10th that wasn’t broken.

They are Schuetter, Dellies, Rizzoli and Emma Jones of Manistique.

The balance of the Dream Team included Kariniemi, Bjorn, Stepien, Maddy Kreider, Ava Fisher of Forest Park, Mia Hauser of Stephenson and Danik

a Shamion of West Iron County.

Three more area players made the Divisions 1-3 First Team — Hird, Ava Maki of Marquette and Leah Goudreau of Manistique.

The D 1-3 Second Team included Ashley Bell of Negaunee and Danielle Lund of Manistique.

The Division 4 First Team had Alice Hancock of Superior Central.

And the D-4 Second Team had the biggest area representation of all, six of the 12 players — Mya Hemmer and Sonja Kiviniemi of Ishpeming, Bailey Corcoran of Munising, Amelia Shanely and Addison Schroeder of Newberry, and Makenna Hendrickson of Baraga.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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