MARQUETTE — The Marquette Senior High School volleyball team ended its regular season and Great Northern Conference season with a four-set loss at home at the Barb Crill Gymnasium against Escanaba on Tuesday night.

The Eskymos prevailed 25-11, 25-22, 23-25, 25-17 as the Sentinels finish the season at 4-4 in the GNC. MSHS head coach Melissa Butler reports her team’s overall record at 9-6, while the MHSAA, which shows match records on its website, lists Marquette at 14-13.

There has never been full agreement on how shortened tournament “matches” are included in overall records.

“(Tuesday) night’s game against Escanaba started sluggishly as we struggled to find our rhythm,” Butler said in an email about the match. “However, we quickly picked up the pace and fought for every point.

“Physically, we are a strong team, and in the second set, we improved our mental game.

“As we prepare for districts, one key takeaway from our season has become clear — the mental aspect of the game is just as important as the physical component. This is something we continually strive to improve.”

The Sentinels open MHSAA Division 1 district tournament play at home at 5 p.m. Monday against Gaylord. The winner advances to the district championship match set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Petoskey or Alpena against one of those two schools.

In this week’s Upper Peninsula high school polls voted on by select members of the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, Marquette moved up a spot in the Divisions 1-3 rankings from fourth to third as Negaunee (23-8-2) also moved up a position from fifth to fourth.

Moving downward actually was Escanaba (17-8-2), which had split matches last week, defeating Menominee and losing to No. 2 Kingsford in four sets. Its win over Marquette took place after the poll was voted on.

Calumet (25-4-2) remained a narrow No. 1, getting three first-place votes to two for Kingsford (29-4), as the Copper Kings also earned one more voting point than the Flivvers.

Jeffers (20-6-1) just missed the top five by one point, while West Iron County (13-8-2) also earned votes.

In Division 4, four of the top five remained in place, the only change coming as previous No. 4 Ewen-Trout Creek (16-8) was knocked out of the top five and replaced by Wakefield-Marenisco (17-5-1) in the same position.

Forest Park (31-4-1) continues to be a unanimous No. 1, Hancock (20-5-2) a consensus No. 2, with St. Ignace (20-4-6) third and Lake Linden-Hubbell (19-11) fifth.

Newberry (17-6) doubled its voting points to two.

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