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Gladstone Volleyball Team Wins Marquette Invite
 MARQUETTE---The Gladstone High School volleyball team finally put it all together on Saturday in Marquette, and showed that the Braves may be a force to be reckoned with when the district tournaments begin in a few weeks. The Braves made it tough on themselves by losing to Stephenson for the third time this season during pool play. But Gladstone managed to make it into bracket play, and that is where the Braves played their best volleyball....although they did it the hard way. Gladstone beat Menominee in the quarterfinals, then the Braves beat Hancock in the semifinals, and then beat Stephenson in the championship. In all three matches, the Braves fell behind after losing the first set, before rallying to win each time, 2-1. "What a great day for these girls," Gladstone Coach Liz Gendron said. "These girls are really starting to play with their heads and learning that this game takes everyone to do their part no matter how big or small it might be. " "Sometimes its that timely ace, off-speed shot, or amazing save that fires the girls and the fans up. We had all of that and more Saturday." Gladstone had lost all three matches to Stephenson this season, including a 15-25, 22-25 decision during Saturday's pool play action. But the Braves rallied again in the championship match. Jessica Beaudry led the way with 17 kills, while Lexi Hongisto contributed nine kills. Callie Jensen had 26 sets, and libero Summer Demeuse had 14 digs. Mackenzie Pardonnet had two solo blocks in the championship match for the Braves. Beaudry had 76 kills in the tournament while Hongisto added 50. Gladstone started the tournament with an impressive 2-0 win over Gwinn in pool play, by scores of 25-15 and 25-20. "Lexi Hongisto and Mackenzie Pardonnet hit over .400," Gendron said. "Kenly Milam and Breanne Aird served strong, getting three aces apiece to keep Gwinn out of their offense." The Braves waited for other matches to get done, and then played Stephenson in their second pool match...and lost to the Eagles. "We came out of break not quite fully-prepared, Gendron said. "We struggled at the serving line, and fell behind in the first set right away. We picked it up in the second (set), but couldn't get any rallies together." Gladstone managed to beat Westwood, 2-0, (25-20, 25-14) to advance into bracket play. Beaudry and Hongisto both hit over .300 in the match. The Braves host the Marquette Redettes Tuesday night. |
