Travis Nelson | Marquette Mining Journal
Ishpeming’s Addison Morton, left, and Gladstone’s Meagan Stier vie for the ball throughout their highschool volleyball match on the Hematites’ health club on Tuesday. Every of those gamers led their respective groups in kills on this night.
ISHPEMING — It didn’t take lengthy for the Ishpeming Excessive College volleyball crew to do what it needed to in a house match on Tuesday night in opposition to Gladstone.
Brief, candy and to the purpose, the Hematites cruised to a three-set victory, 25-10, 25-15, 25-17.
Ishpeming acquired right into a groove early with good serving. The Braves struggled all evening lengthy with receiving Ishpeming serves, together with a 16-point serving run by Sonja Kiviniemi.
If Gladstone was in a position to return to it, the play often resulted in a kill by one among Ishpeming’s two offensive leaders — Addison Morton and Religion Loman.
The Hematites’ duo mixed for 13 kills, but it surely was sturdy serving early that acquired them an enormous lead.
“That was stable, Sonja is a good server for us,” Ishpeming coach Katt Beerling stated. “I really like her aggressiveness on the finish line and management, and even better than her controlling issues again there, we had different folks on the court docket combating to maintain her serve again there. It was actually a crew effort.”
The Hematites took an early 5-3 lead within the first set behind the serving of Payton Manninen and several other kills by Morton. The Braves stormed again to take a 7-6 lead, after which got here Kiviniemi’s 16-point barrage that turned a 7-7 tie into an insurmountable 23-7 Hematites benefit.
Kiviniemi led all gamers with seven service aces because the nagging serve obtain situation wouldn’t go away for the Braves. Whereas GHS scored a pair extra factors within the set, the Hematites received the opening set simply.
“I believe that they had actually sturdy serves, and we struggled with serve obtain at first,” Gladstone coach Averi Kanyuh stated. “We have been just a little bit late adjusting to the ball, however I believe we did a greater job of studying their hitters and our blocks. Then we improved in passing because the units went on.”
Gladstone did enhance, but it surely proved to be too little, too late. Each the second and third units began even earlier than IHS pulled away. Within the second set, the Braves acquired kills from Meagan Stier and Maia Nelson and stayed in vary, trailing simply 14-12. That’s when Kiviniemi got here again as much as serve for Ishpeming and delivered 4 extra factors to spice up the result in one other snug degree. To complete off the set, Emily Morton related on a kill, and Loman served for the ultimate 4 factors.
The third set was nearer for a good longer variety of factors, with the Hematites sustaining a slim 17-16 lead. However Gladstone nonetheless had hassle stopping the Hematites’ runs.
This time it was Addison Morton’s flip to serve, and he or she led the Hematites to seven straight factors to make it 24-16.
Closing the match out was Mya Hemmer, a freshman who was not too long ago referred to as as much as varsity and proven with two kills down the stretch. The Hematites’ offense, particularly their middles, delivered to paved the way.
“I’ve three stable middles, it’s been enjoyable getting them in there and transferring them round,” Beerling stated. “We introduced Mya (Hemmer) up final week, and he or she’s finished nice for us, and Addison (Morton) and Kaitlyn (Van Deuren) are additionally sturdy middles for us, too.
“My outsides did nicely, my proper sides did nicely, like I stated, it actually was a crew effort.”
Morton led all gamers with seven kills, whereas Loman had six. Along with her seven aces, Kiviniemi had six digs, whereas Manninen made 18 set assists.
Stier led the Braves with six kills of her personal.
Each groups get every week off earlier than the Hematites host Manistique on Tuesday.
