Kingsford varsity netter Jenna Viau (4) hits a dig during the MHSAA Division 2 District 33 final on Thursday evening at Kingsford High School against Houghton. The Flivvers won the district crown by beating the Gremlins 3-2 in a thrilling district finals matchup. (Terry Raiche photo)

KINGSFORD –What began as a chemistry experiment of sorts for the 2022 Kingsford volleyball team in August ended up being a perfect potion in November.

Built around three seniors and a precocious group of six sophomores, the Flivvers steered past any potential interteam conflicts along the way, continued to grow toward their vast potential and finished with an epic 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 19-25, 15-13 over the Houghton Gremlins in the MHSSA Division 2 District 33 final on Thursday evening at Kingsford High School.

When senior outside hitter Elaina Bortolini found a hole in the Gremlin defense for the final point, the Flivvers, their coaches and their fans exploded.

“It’s surreal,” said Bortolini, beaming at the thought of it all. “It’s amazing because we’re such a young team. Last year we (had a lot of seniors) and we lost in the first round of districts, so this is crazy.”

“It’s just unbelievable,” Kingsford coach Jaclynn Kreider added. “These girls have worked so hard and we’ve grown so close the last couple of weeks. And to see ball hit the floor, it was like, ‘Did that really just happen?'”

Kingsford’s Anna Bortolini (12) gets airborne as she blasts a shot over Negaunee defenders during Thursday night’s district tournament championship match. (Terry Raiche photo)

Indeed it did. Kreider, her coaching staff and the players themselves had taken an odd mixture of experience and toughness along with emerging talent and youth and built a champion.

Not that it was always a smooth ride by any means, as Kreider admitted afterward. But Bortolini, middle hitter Laura Bracket and outside hitter Lexi DalSanto embraced sophomores Maddy Kreider, Alyssa Larson, Ellery Nash, Jenna Viau, Kailey Sundquist and Bryonna Sanders and led the way

Coach Kreider talked about the intriguing interplay she has contended with this season.

“There’s a hard dynamic with that,” she began. “And we’ve had our struggles, but we have three seniors that are just very merciful with how they handle the sophomores with strong personalities like Maddy. So we are very fortunate for their patience and understanding because there’s a lot with that sophomore group that can cause stress because they’re 15 or 16 years old.

“I really think that you take a different group of seniors with this team and it could have gone the other way.”

Kingsford head coach Jaclynn Kreider celebrates with the district champion trophy in front of the Flivvers’ home fans Thursday. (Terry Raiche photo)

Truth be told, no one really expected a district championship out of this year’s team. Coach Kreider even said she thought it would be a “rebuilding year” at the start. But her squad just kept getting better and better and became not only an entertaining team to watch but a tough team to beat by the end of the regular season.

In the final, the Flivvers raced out to a 7-2 lead on the strength of five service points and two kills from Viau, who last year played setter on the JV squad.

Sundquist also put down two kills during the run for the Flivvers, forcing Houghton coach Blaire Zenner to call an early timeout.

The Gremlins, who fought through an impressive five-set victory over Escanaba on Wednesday, found their balance midway through the set and finished it off with a late 7-1 run to take a leg up in the match.

After the first set, Coach Kreider pulled her talented daughter, who had unusually wobbled at moments in the opener, aside for a private chat.

“I just saw some tears from her that I haven’t necessarily seen from her this year,” the veteran coach said. “I was just trying to reminder her not to take the weight of the world on her shoulders. She trusts her teammates and she loves playing with her teammates, but her natural instinct is that she feels like she has to do so much.”

Kingsford took an early lead again in the second set, building 10-5 edge prompting another timeout by Houghton. And once again the Gremlins answered with a spurt that ended with the visitors up 22-19 and threatening to put the Flivvers in a massive hole in the match.

However, Kingsford switched their attack a bit, feeding Sundquist on quick sets, which the bouncy middle hitter smacked down three times in the final five points to give her team a gigantic 25-23 win to even the match.

“We’ve worked a lot on our quick sets in practice,” said Sundquist, who tied with Maddy Kreider for team lead in kills with 17. “That’s pretty much what we do for like an hour and a half. The timing is a lot harder with the quick sets, so it’s all about timing to work on.”

With their newfound momentum, the Flivvers led almost start to finish in the third set. Four consecutive kills by Sundquist pushed Kingsford’s advantage to 18-12, while Maddy Kreider sent down two kills and Larson contributed an ace and a tip to move the Flivvers to within one set of the title.

Houghton, however made an adjustment and used 6-foot middle blocker Stella Wickstrom to cover Sundquist more often and the Flivvers’ roll came to a temporary end. Meanwhile, the Houghton attack sparked back up and the Gremlins pushed the match to a deciding set.

Given Houghton’s comeback from down two sets to defeat homestanding Escanaba the night before, it was essential for Kingsford to start quickly in the fifth. They did so, behind four excellent serves from Kreider and a block from Sundquist to go up 4-0.

“Maddy starting off with that little run, that was a big deal,” Bortolini said.

Houghton pulled back to within 6-5 after a Flivver hitting error, but Kreider answered with two kills and Bracket added one to momentarily stabilize things for Kingsford.

Again, the Gremlins tested the mettle of the Flivvers with a 6-3 spurt to move the score to 14-13. But that’s when Bortolini put an end to all the on-court drama.

“I knew I had to put it down,” she said. “The donut was open, so I knew I had to put it right in there.”

After she did so, the Flivver gymnasium became party central.

“We thought during the season it was going to be like a growing year because we lost a lot of our seniors from last year,” Sundquist said. “But then we started playing and we started to beat some of these teams and it felt really good.”

And the last word went to the coach.

“I never envisioned this district championship with this team starting out the season,” said Kreider, who won her third district title as Kingsford’s coach. “It’s a special group, and I knew it was special from the start. We were willing to take the chance on these (sophomore) girls because they earned it and they deserved it and we believed in them.”

With the victory, the Flivvers advance to the Division 2 Regional 10 semifinals where they will play Cheboygan at Cheboygan High School on Tuesday.

The winner will move on to Thursday’s regional final against the winner of Cadillac-Midland Bullock Creek in a match scheduled to be held in Houghton City.