Kingsford Wins As Escanaba Comeback Falls Short

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School volleyball team dug a hole Monday night in their Class B district tournament match against the Kingsford Flivvers.

Thanks to strong outside hitting from the Flivvers, and a bunch of mental mistakes by the Eskymos, Kingsford won the first two sets. And the visitors were three points away from the usual 3-0 sweep after going ahead, 22-13, in the third set of the match.

But the Eskymos got their wake-up call, Middle hitter Jeny Brandt got on a roll.

And what happened for the next hour may have been the best volleyball the Escanaba Eskymos have played in a number of years. Unfortuantely, it came up just a bit short.

Kingsford, which swept both regular season matches from the Eskymos, won the first set Monday night, 25-19, and then took the second set, 25-20. And after going ahead, 22-13, in that third set, Eskymo Coach Theresa Heidt gathered the girls during a time-out.

How were they going to go out? Especially the seniors? Well, the Eskymos roared back behind the strong hitting of Brandt, and they prolonged the match with a 25-23 win.

Then, in the fourth set, the Eskymos were flying around, playing their best volleyball of the year. Brandt was strong up the middle, Katie Ziebell and Payton Alvord had their moments. Libero J.J. Laviolette kept the ball off of the floor in the back row.

As the EHS student section cheered loudly on every point, the Eskymos rode a wave of emotion to an improbable 25-15 win to tie the match at two sets apiece.

Rarely have the Flivvers, heavily favored to win this match, been back on their heels like this.

Simply put, the fifth set was a war. Tied at 7-7. Tied at 12-12. Escanaba then took a 13-12 lead, and Kingsford Coach Jaclynn Kreider called time out to set up strategy. The Flivvers won the next two points to go up, 14-13, and Heidt called her time-out.

After the time-out, Kingsford got the final point, and escaped with the 3-2 win. Outside hitter Sydney Wickman was dominant at times, and Hannah Carlson also hit well,.

Kingsford survived and will host Gladstone in a district semifinal Wednesday night. Menominee visits Houghton in the other semifinal. The Escanaba season came to an end, but not before one of the more memorable hours of Eskymo volleyball.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos and videos from Monday night's match.