Local Sports

IM goes into districts on high note

IRON MOUNTAIN -- In their final regular season home match, Iron Mountain's seniors stood out as the Mountaineers upended Gwinn 3-1 (25-15, 25-10, 23-25, 25-10) in Iron Mountain's annual Volley for the Cure match on Senior Night on Thursday at Mountaineer Gym.

Ellison Powell smacked 18 kills, Chloe Maycroft posted nine kills and five blocks, Emma Ellis recorded 23 assists and five digs, Shyanne Pearce registered nine digs and two aces, Leah Winch added five digs and Bella Tregillis served a team-high three aces in the West Pac Conference victory.

"Big night for our seniors," IM coach Jeanne Newberry said. "A great win to enter the tournament."

Newberry said her team's serving was a key in the victory.

"Aces gave us early leads and we kept our momentum," she said.

The Mountaineers begin MHSAA Division 3 District 66 play on Monday, Oct. 31 with a first-round match against Menominee. If they were to prevail, the Mountaineers would face district host Manistique on Wednesday, Nov. 2. The final is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 3.

NORDICS 3, KNIGHTS 1

NORWAY -- The North Dickinson varsity volleyball team hit the road and hit host Norway for a 3-1 match win (25-15, 25-19, 18-25, 25-19) on Thursday night.

While happy with the win, Nordics coach Taylor Johnson said it the Knights made it a battle.

Overall, we struggled a bit tonight. We had several good runs, but we were sluggish defensively. We made silly errors, and we weren't communicating," Johnson said. "We did play the net well, and everyone got to see the floor and contribute, so those we some positive aspects of our game.

"Norway deserves a lot of credit though," she added. "They played really tough and have improved tremendously from when we saw them back in August.

The Nordics were led at the night by Micah Lindholm with 10 kills, three blocks, and 14 digs. Aiden Hord also has a strong night with six kills, one block, 12 digs and six aces.

Other contributors for the Nordics included Mya Grunlund (5 aces), Gabby Schultz (1 ace, 14 digs), Jessica Harwath (5 digs) and Gianna Maule (3 aces).

LADY TROJANS 3, BRONCOS 1

HARRIS -- Coaches and teams strive to build momentum heading into the district tournament and the Forest Park Lady Trojans have done just that.

Coach Bobbie Anderson's squad competed well against highly-regarded Kingsford on Tuesday in a four-set defeat and followed that with an impressive 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-16) victory over Bark River-Harris on Thursday.

Even coming into this week, Forest Park had been playing well.

"What an awesome way to end our regular season," Anderson said afterward the win over the Broncos. "We had great match against Kingsford on Tuesday and an even better match tonight. We came out aggressive and we never backed down. It's fun to see them put all the pieces together and play to their potential."

Outside hitter Ema Stepien was "unstoppable" according to Anderson, finishing the match with 18 kills. Middle hitter Leah Feldhausen contributed heavily to the FP attack with 12 kills, while Ava Fischer added seven and Audrey Franz posted six.

Charlie Larson directed the offense with 37 assists and added seven digs and three aces. Stepien contributed eight digs and four aces, Franz chipped in with nine digs and three blocks and Ashlynn Kannich recorded 16 digs.

The Lady Trojans will face Norway in the MHSAA Division 4 District 99 semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 1 in Crystal Falls. If they win, the Lady Trojans will play for the district title against the winner of North Dickinson-Watersmeet on Thursday, Nov. 3. The Nordics are the district hosts.

"We are excited for next week and hopefully a long tournament run," Anderson said.