“When we give them easy points, and make things tough on ourselves, and give them energy, it's a hard night,” Bay College Coach Dan Porath said. “I'm glad we were able to pull off a win. It's hard to keep momentum when you're just giving them the points back (on service errors). So, we cleaned those things up and it made things a little easier for us in the final set.”

The Norse were in control for most of the first set, but then in the second set, it was the Lumberjacks who led most of the way. In the third set, Bay seemed to regain control of the match with a fairly easy win, but in the fourth set, the Norse fell behind again, 11-2.

Bay eventually rallied to tie the match at 18-18, but four service errors handed the Lumberjacks some free points as they won, 25-22, sending the match to a fifth set.

The Norse fixed that problem in the deciding set. Bay jumped to a 4-0 lead, led by as many as six, but Alpena again rallied, cutting it to 11-9 behind the strong play of Kristen Neubecker. The Norse finally put it away with Monroe dominating with her hitting, and the Menominee High School graduate ended the match with a kill at the net.

Monroe ended up with ten kills, three aces, and two assist blocks.

“I felt really good,” the sophomore Monroe said. “I started off rough. I was in my head a lot. But then once I finally made contact with the ball, it all went up hill. He (Porath) told me that I needed to get to my depth. I wasn't going back far enough, and finally when I did, I was doing better.”

“It wasn't her best offensive day,” Porath agreed. “She's been even better most of the year. But she's still one of our best players, for sure.”

Her sophomore teammate, Olyvia Saxton, was also strong, with ten kills of her own. She added one service ace, two solo blocks, and six assisted blocks.

“I felt pretty confident at the net today,” Saxton said. “Definitely one of my better games this year. I guess just pushing that line helped me a lot. And Mia (Hauser) in the back row. She would always tell me where to hit it when I was going up for it.”

Stephenson High School graduate Mia Hauser also stepped up, especially with her serving, as she led the way with seven service aces, including two big ones in that fifth set. Hauser also had two kills and 16 digs.

“We really focused on our serving, getting them in, and still playing aggressive,” Hauser said. “We got really hyped after we got a good run. I think we did very well coming together as a team to pull that win off in the last set.”

“Mia kind of carried us through,” Porath said.”I kind of gave her the green light to serve her regular serve, and everybody else was like, hey, let's get it in. Let's make them beat us.”

Jade Jasenovsky, another Menominee girl, led the Norse in digs with 23.

The Norse played on their home court for just the fifth time this season (3-2 home record). Bay has only two more home matches left this season, as the Norse will play only seven of their 25 regular season matches in Escanaba.

“The home environment was great,” Porath said. “A shoutout to Escanaba High School for coming out and supporting us. They definitely brought some energy for us.”

With Tuesday's win, Bay College improved to 4-12 on the season, 2-4 in the MCCAA. The Norse sit in fourth place in the North Division standings.

Alpena (0-8 overall, 0-5 MCCAA) is currently in last place. The Norse and Lumberjacks will play again in Alpena later this month.

The Norse head to Milwaukee this weekend for matches against Milwaukee Tech and Bryant & Stratton.