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Norway hangs on to beat Ishpeming, 3-2

ISHPEMING — Ishpeming fought back in the third and fourth sets but the Norway attack was too powerful as the Knights won a nonconference high school volleyball match in the Hematites gym on Thursday night.

Norway prevailed 25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 25-23.

Ishpeming head coach Katt Beerling said her team put in a strong performance against a team they had already beaten previously.

“I definitely think the first two sets are what lost us this match…. I thought my girls played hard, but it took them a while to get going,” she said. “We recently beat Norway in a Gladstone tournament so (Norway) definitely came here with something to show and they did a great job and played very strong.

“My girls played well tonight, I’m just disappointed with the outcome but unfortunately sometimes that’s just how it works. They played hard.”

Norway head coach Steve Andrews said his team began to make mistakes after two strong sets.

“Credit goes to Ishpeming, they didn’t die, they fought back,” he said. “We got tentative in Game 3. We weren’t passing as crisp, our hits were few and far between and we just made too many errors.

“Take nothing away from Ishpeming. They started hitting the ball, they started serving hard and they fought back.

“If we’re not playing with our best stuff, we want to come out with a win at least. The girls fought back, they got down physically and mentally and they dug out and came back to win.”

Norway scored early and often in the first set, jumping out to a big 22-9 advantage. Ishpeming didn’t give up, however, scoring 10 unanswered points to pull within 22-19 before Norway put home the next two points and eventually won the set on an Ishpeming attack error.

Norway rebuilt its momentum in Set 2, jumping out to a 4-0 lead including a service ace. Ishpeming stayed close, pulling within one point four times but never tying the score before the Knights ended the set on a service ace from Jacyln Bal.

Down 2-0, Ishpeming didn’t go down easily. Norway won the first two points in the next set before Ishpeming tied it several times. Ishpeming then took its first lead of the night, 5-4, on a Norway attack error.

Several streaks swung the momentum to and fro, the Knights twice scoring four straight and Ishpeming getting six in a row before a service ace by the Knights gave them a 12-11 lead.

The teams went back and forth for awhile longer before the Hematites reeled off another five-point run to take a 20-14 lead and set up the win in this set on a Norway service error.

Ishpeming continued to hold the momentum, leading through most of the fourth set until Norway tied it 16-16. Ishpeming retook a 19-16 advantage, but Norway eventually scored the night’s final four points, ending the match on a kill by Kayte Casanova.

Madigan Johns led the Hematites’ offense with 13 kills. Teammate Hailey Smith added eight kills and nine assists, while Brylea Ranta with three kills and 12 assists. Statistics weren’t available for Norway.

Ishpeming travels to Marquette on Saturday for the Redette Rumble tournament.

Norway won the JV match 25-22, 25-14.

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