Negaunee’s Gretel Johnson, top center, goes high to attempt a spike during a high school volleyball match played at Escanaba on Tuesday evening. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Adam Hinch)

ESCANABA — The Tuesday night volleyball matchup between Escanaba and Negaunee went the distance as the Eskymos roared back from a two-set deficit to defeat the visiting Miners, 23-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-15, 15-10.

In the first set of this nonconference match, EHS senior Ava Stalboeger made a kill to tie the game 6-6. The Miners answered with a seven-point serving run to take a 13-6 lead on a service ace by junior Izzy Francisco.

The Miners extended the lead to 15-7, but the Eskymos scored nine of the next 10 points, including a pair of aces in a five-point scoring run by senior Chloe Dubord, to tie it at 16.

Negaunee took the lead back as it scored six of the next seven. But the Eskymos didn’t give up, Brooklyn Beauchamp getting an ace to cut the deficit to 22-19. The Eskymos pulled within one on an ace by Stalboeger but the Miners pulled out the first set.

In the second set, the Miners scored the first three points before the Eskymos cut it to 3-2 on a kill by Susie Moberg and ace by Mary Kate Tourangeau.

Negaunee scored the next five points, including a four-point serving run by junior Ilsa Engstrom. The Eskymos responded, scoring nine of the next 11 points to take an 11-10 lead. The Miners then tied it on the next serve before retaking the lead on a three-point service run. Stalboerger was a force in the front of the net as she got a kill to cut the deficit to 14-12.

“It was Ava’s night tonight,” Eskymos coach Beverly Ziebell said. “She had 13 kills tonight and her game was on big tonight.”

The Miners scored six of the next eight points to extend the lead to 20-14. The Eskymos got back within two as they scored four of the next five points but the Miners responded with four of the next five points to close out the set.

In the third set, the lead went back and forth with the two teams tied 7-7 early on. Negaunee scored seven of the next nine points and the Miners led 13-9 on a kill by junior Gretel Johnson. The Eskymos scored seven of the next 10 points to tie the game at 16.

Negaunee took an 18-16 lead on an ace by Johnson. The teams were tied three times late in the set; the final time was at 20-20 when Stalboeger came up with a big kill at the front of the net. On the next serve Beauchamp delivered an ace to put the Eskymos back in front. Stalboeger and Moberg each had kills to extend the Eskymos lead to 23-20.

The Miners scored back-to-back points to cut the deficit to 23-22. The Eskymos scored the next two points to win the set.

“We do tend to come off a little slow at first,” Harley Coolman said. “In my opinion, taking the first two sets to observe the other team. We knew what was coming in the next three and we knew we wanted it more than they did and our whole team put in all the effort they could to get it done.”

In the fourth set, Negaunee jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, but the Eskymos answered with an eight-point run by sophomore Mara Anderson to put the Eskymos up 10-6.

The Miners cut the deficit to 11-9 on an ace by junior Izzy Francisco. The Eskymos answered by scoring six of the next seven points to extend their lead to 17-10 on an ace by Coolman.

The Miners used a nice kill on a later sequence to pull within 20-15 before the Eskymos closed the set.

In the fifth set, the Miners built a 7-4 lead on an ace by junior Lila Mason, but the Eskymos would once again answer the call, scoring the next five points to go up 9-7. The Eskymos also scored five of the last six points of the night, including the match-winning ace by Tourangeau.

“That was kind of a shock,” Tourangeau said. “It felt amazing to get the winning ace. Words can’t describe the feeling. I didn’t know how this season would go after we lost so many people last season but we are pulling together and playing well as a team.”

Escanaba won the JV match, 2-1.