CRYSTAL FALLS – With the Skyline Central Conference volleyball championship on the line, the Bark River-Harris Broncos and the Forest Park Lady Trojans split the first two sets Thursday night at Eddie Chambers Gymnasium. The team that broke free of the stalemate would leave as champions.

That team proved to be Bark River-Harris.

The Broncos embarked on a 12-1 run to take a big lead early in the all-important third set and went on to defeat the Lady Trojans, 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-9, 25-17) and finish their league schedule unbeaten. It was Forest Park’s lone loss in the Skyline this season.

“The girls have had a goal since the beginning of the year, obviously, like every team,” BR-H coach Jen Ives said. “And so to win a conference championship when we haven’t done it in years at Bark River, it means a ton to them. “

On the other side of the net, there was some dismay.

“We have a lot of disappointed girls, for sure,” FP coach Bobbie Jo Anderson said. “We knew that this was the conference championship so we have disappointed girls. But I just told them we need to take that energy and frustration and think about (the district) next week and how we can use that as a motivation for next week.”

BR-H broke a 9-all tie in the opening set with four straight points and led the rest of the way. A block by middle Anna LeBoeuf sparked the run.

FP answered with a 7-1 surge to begin the second set. The Broncos fought back to 22-all, but outside hitter Ema Stepien spiked an overpass before setter Rayven Jacobson served two straight aces to knot the match at one set all.

The Broncos grabbed quick control of the third set. Senior Aspen Fredrick delivered five consecutive service points, including two aces. Junior Carley Varoni followed with an ace and a push to go with a tip from Alaska Peterson and a kill from LeBoeuf to retain the lock on the third set.

Ives said it was her defense that set up her offense.

“Our back row stepped up huge about halfway through the season so there’s not really a whole lot of holes in our defense. And we really try to put the ball away so that a team has to send us a free ball so that we can put it away again. That’s kind of our whole goal, to just keep hammering.”

And Ives’ team has the players to do just that. Fredrick topped BR-H with 10 kills to go with nine each from Varoni and Peterson and six from Tressa Ives.

Varoni also had three blocks and four aces.

The Lady Trojans could not stop the Bronco momentum in the fourth, falling behind 8-1. Gracie Peterson served back-to-back aces to pull FP within four and later Audrey Franz served an ace off the net to cut the gap to three. But the Lady Trojans got no closer and dropped their second match in a row after losing to Kingsford on Tuesday.

“They had more energy than us tonight,” Anderson said. “They played on their toes and covered the floor really well and they were swinging and attacking the ball. We were sending them too many free balls and too many tips and they’re too good of a team for that.”

Jacobson and Peterson led the Forest Park attack with six kills each. Jacobson also recorded 12 assists and four aces. Ashlynn Kannich topped the defense with 30 digs.

The Broncos begin MHSAA Division 3 District play as they host Menominee on Monday, with the winner to host Iron Mountain on Wednesday. Forest Park also begins their postseason on Monday, as they’ll host SCC for North Central in the opening round of MHSAA Division 4 District play, with the winner to travel to Stephenson on Wednesday to face the Lady Eagles.