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Third Time's The Charm: Braves Knock Out Flivvers
GLADSTONE---The Gladstone High School volleyball team lost both matches to the Kingsford Flivvers during the regular season, including a 3-1 decision last week.
But the Gladstone girls were determined to get some paybacks as the two teams met again Monday night in the MHSAA Class B District Tournament. And the girls did get their paybacks in a see-saw 3-2 decision that sent Gladstone into the second round.
"Hopefully, this is a confidence-booster," Gladstone Coach Liz Gendron said. "We have some great players on this team, five great seniors, and they didn't want it to end today. That's all they kept saying in the huddle, that they were gonna keep fighting."
"It means a lot to us," Braves senior Jessica Beaudry said. "We've been practicing hard all week. We've been telling ourselves that we believe we can win. This means everything. I mean, for me and four others, this could have been (our) last game."
Early on, it didn't look good for the Braves.
The first set was not pretty, as the Flivvers cruised to a 25-17 victory. Gendron did not like what she saw from her girls.
Lexi Hongisto's kill ends the match in victory!
"That first set, I just wanted it to be over with," Gendron said with a chuckle. "If I could have said 'mulligan' and give them that set, I would have, and moved on."
But Gladstone regrouped to win the second set, 25-16, and the Braves raced to a 13-7 lead in the third set. But five service errors were costly for Gladstone in that set, and the Flivvers rallied to win, 25-23, taking four of the final five points of that set.
Gladstone's season was on the brink, but the girls rallied again in the fourth set.
Summer Demeuse had a four-point run on her serve to help the Braves gain an 11-4 lead. Katie Belonga helped out with three points at the net, and Gladstone led, 18-9.
Gladstone seemed to be in control with a 23-14 lead, but the Flivvers came back as the Braves got a bit sloppy and the communication seemed to be lacking a times.
Gendron called a time out, and Gladstone held on to win that set, 25-22.
That set up a winner-take-all fifth set.
Kingsford jumped to a 3-0 lead, but the Braves came back to take control. After a side-out, the Braves scored eight straight points on Lexi Hongisto's serve.
Jess Beaudry kill in 5th set makes the score 11-5
Kingsford Coach Steve Andrews scored two time outs during that run, but it did not stop the Gladstone run.
The Braves had a 9-3 lead.
Beaudry had two big kills and Callie Jensen tipped one over the net into the "triangle" to help the Braves to stretch that lead. Gladstone won the set, 15-9.
And the Braves girls celebrated a playoff victory on their home court.
"We knew that the hardest thing is to beat a team three times," Beaudry said. "We knew we could beat them. But we knew that we could not beat ourselves."
Gladstone will now host Houghton in the district semifinals Wednesday night.
"Houghton is very solid," Gendron said. "John's always got them defensively strong. We have to be on our game.
"We can't be giving them missed serves. If we give them this many missed serves and missed hits, (the match) will be done very quickly. "
Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box at the top of this page to see photos and videos, and listen to post-game interviews.
CLASS A DISTRICT #12 at Various
Traverse City West 3, Alpena 0
Petoskey 3, Sault Ste. Marie 1
Traverse City Central 3, Gaylord 0
Wed 11/6---T.C. West at Marquette, Time TBA
Wed 11/6---T.C. Central at Petoskey, Time TBA
Sat 11/9---Final, TBA
CLASS B DISTRICT #64 at Various
Gladstone 3, Kingsford 2
Wed 11/6---Escanaba at Menominee, 6CT/7ET
Wed 11/6---Houghton at Gladstone, 6:30 p.m.
Fri 11/8---Final at Menominee/Escanaba winner, TBA
CLASS C DISTRICT #93 at Various
Newberry 3, Indian River Inland Lakes 0
Wed 11/6---St. Ignace at Harbor Springs, 6 p.m.
Wed 11/6---Manistique at Newberry, 6 p.m.
Thu 11/7---Final, TBA
CLASS C DISTRICT #94 at Negaunee
Negaunee 3, Ishpeming 1
Gwinn 3, Westwood 0
Thu 11/7---Final: Gwinn at Negaunee, 7 p.m.
CLASS C DISTRICT #95 at West Iron County
Iron Mountain 3, Norway 2
Ironwood 3, West Iron County 2
Thu 11/7---Final: Ironwood vs Iron Mountain, 7 p.m.
CLASS C DISTRICT #96 at L'Anse
Hancock 3, L'Anse 0
Calumet 3, Chassell 0
Thu 11/7---Final: Chassell vs Hancock, 7 p.m.
CLASS D DISTRICT #123 at Mackinaw City
Rudyard 3, Mackinac Island 0
Wed 11/6---Engadine vs Rudyard, 6 p.m.
Wed 11/6---Beaver Island vs Mackinaw City, 7:30 p.m.
Thu 11/7---Final, 7 p.m.
CLASS D DISTRICT #124 at DeTour
Brimley 3, Cedarville 0
Wed 11/6---Pickford vs Maplewood Baptist, 6 p.m.
Wed 11/6---DeTour vs Brimley, 7:30 p.m.
Thu 11/7---Final, 7 p.m.
CLASS D DISTRICT #125 at Rapid River
Munising 3, Superior Central 2
Rapid River 3, Big Bay deNoc 0
Thu 11/7---Final: Munising at Rapid River, 7 p.m.
CLASS D DISTRICT #126 at Various
Carney-Nadeau 3, North Central 0
Stephenson 3, North Dickinson 1
Wed 11/6---Carney-Nadeau at Mid Peninsula, 7ET/6CT
Wed 11/6---Bark River-Harris at Stephenson, 7ET/6CT
Thu 11/7---Final @NCA/MP/CN winner, 7ET/6CT
CLASS D DISTRICT #127 at Ewen-Trout Creek
Bessemer 3, Wakefield-Marensico 0
Wed 11/6---Crystal Falls Forest Park vs Watersmeet, 6:30ET/5:30 CT
Wed 11/6---Bessemer vs Ewen-Trout Creek, 8ET/7CT
Thu 11/7---Final, 7ET/6CT
CLASS D DISTRICT #128 at Baraga
Ontonagon 3, Dollar Bay 1
Lake Linden-Hubbell 3, Baraga 1
Thu 11/7---Final: Ontonagon vs Lake Linden-Hubbell, 6 p.m. |
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