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Gremlins sweep Ishpeming on volleyball court

HOUGHTON — Houghton continued its winning ways on Monday with a three-game high school volleyball sweep of visiting Ishpeming, 25-20, 25-13, 25-18.

The win came due to the success of a strong serve-receive in the eyes of Gremlins’ coach Blaire Zenner.

“It is something we have been working on,” she said. “It picked up, and we were able to play our game.”

Hematites’ coach Kat Beerling said her girls played decent, not great.

“We played flat at times, and they (Houghton) took advantage of our weak spots,” Beerling said. “They put the ball where we were not. They are a good team.”

The first set opened with the two teams knotted at 3-3, 5-5 and 6-6 before the Hematites pushed out to a six-point lead at 18-12.

Then came the Gremlins’ Laney Johnson to the line where she posted a service run of seven point to retie it at 19-19. Then with Emmy Pietila on the line it was a race to 25 that the Gremlins won.

After a brief tie at 6-6 to start the second set, Houghton again put on the gas with Johnson in the driver’s seat. She served up a run of seven unanswered points for a 13-7 lead. That expanded to 22-13 lead before finishing the set.

Johnson had five aces and five kills. Chloe Serafin led the Gremlins with nine kills. Helene Rinkinen tallied seven.

“In that second set, we really picked up our play and found our groove,” Zenner said.

The Hematites led for much of the early part of the third set. Jayden Negilski pushed the Ishpeming lead to 7-4 before the Gremlins tied this one at 11-11, 12-12 and 15-15. Then Johnson worked her service magic one more time with a run of four that gave her team a 19-15 lead. With Serafin on the line, the Gremlins sealed the deal.

The Hematites are scheduled to return to the court at 6:30 p.m. Monday with a home match against Munising.

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