Justin St. Ours/Escanaba Daily Press Photo KINGSFORD’S ALI DOOLITTLE (28) strikes the ball against Escanaba as Kingsford’s Kate Cook (front left) looks on Tuesday at Escanaba.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba volleyball team powered through the Kingsford Flivvers 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-18) here Tuesday in a Great Northern Conference tilt.

The Eskymos pulled ahead midway through the first set, with the Flivvers unable to halt their momentum. Escanaba’s Anna Smith finished the set with a seven-point service run.

“(In) set one, we struggled in serve receive,” Flivvers’ coach Jaclynn Kreider said. “They were serving aggressive, and we really had a difficult time trying to run our offense out of serve receive. As the night went on, our net play (suffered). We had 16 net errors, and if you take some of those away, the match could be completely different.”

Neither team led by more than one point in the second set before Kingsford’s Maggie Strehlow broke the stalemate. However, Escanaba stayed within two, and a short run and an ace from Smith put the Eskymos (8-2, 5-1 GNC) ahead 19-17. A few points later, Kingsford’s Ali Doolittle tied it at 21 to earn the momentum the Flivvers needed. The set ended on a back row violation against Esky.

“First and foremost, I’m excited my girls stayed engaged for the entire game,” Esky coach Adam Lambert said. “Kingsford’s a great team, and with this being a conference match, we had to come out and play strong. Sometimes when we get behind we start beating ourselves, and I saw a little of that tonight, but not as much as could’ve happened.”

The third set was again competitive as the teams remained within one point of each other until the midway point, but a kill from Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin gave it a 14-13 lead. The Flivvers (8-3, 3-3 GNC) tied it at 16 with a kill from Doolittle, but a five-point run from Esky’s Maddy Block gave them a big enough advantage to finish the set.

“We really wanted to focus on our passing so that our attack at the net could be better,” Kreider said. “For us, we were just excited to come here and play against a good team. We struggled against them the last time we saw them last weekend (in the Great Northern Conference tournament) when we had some lineup changes, so we were just excited to get back on the floor tonight and compete.”

Kingsford took an early lead in the fourth set, but a five-point run from Kamin moved the Eskymos ahead 11-9. The Flivvers pulled within one on an ace from Brooke Kriegl, but Kamin kept the Eskymos ahead with two kills over the next three points. Kamin then finished the set with a seven-point run.

Escanaba, which won the jayvee match 2-0, hosts Marquette Tuesday. Kingsford hosts Marquette Thursday.