Kingsford’s digging it: Flivver netters defend home court, win tournament
KINGSFORD — As the Kingsford Volleyball Invitational kicked off, boxes of salty snacks and bottles of sports drinks littered the hallways of Kingsford High School Saturday morning helping mark the start of the 2023 varsity volleyball season for many area teams.
The host Kingsford volleyball team finished the day 9-1 and were crowned tournament champions after beating Forest Park 2-0 in the tournament’s title game.
Iron Mountain, Negaunee, North Dickinson, Manistique, West Iron County, Bark River-Harris and Escanaba also competed in the tournament.
“It’s great because we got second in all of our tournaments last year,” said Flivvers head coach Jaclynn Kreider. “So, we really wanted to break that second-place curse. So, it’s nice to, No. 1, get first place. But also, in the first tournament of the year, for the girls to be able to prove to themselves that if we work hard this year, there’s a lot of good things in store for us.”
While Kreider praised the effort of her entire team, one player rose to the occasion a bit unexpectedly.
“I think Alyssa Larson stepped up big time today,” Kreider said. “We weren’t necessarily planning to use her in the front row and, at one point, we needed to and she did great.
“So we kept her in and I think that made a big difference.”
Larson finished the tournament with 19 assists, 17 kills, 13 digs, six aces and a block for Kingsford.
The Flivvers also received contributions from Bryonna Sanders (19 digs and 4 aces), Ellery Nash (26 digs, 10 aces and 5 assists), Maddy Kreider (28 digs, 21 kills and 20 aces), Ava Weecks (3 aces and 3 digs), Kailey Sundquist (20 kills, 8 digs, 7 aces and 4 blocks), Jenna Viau (26 digs, 13 kills, 3 assists and a block), Anna Bortolini (17 Kills and 7 digs), and Alaina Kowalski (1 kill).
Although they didn’t bring the tournament crown back home with them, Forest Park head coach Bobbie Jo Anderson isn’t hitting the panic button.
“Overall, I think we did really well,” Anderson said. “We got second place, got to be happy with that. Kingsford has an extremely strong team and we knew that would be a tough match. I think we started off a little bit rusty, had some jitters, some nerves in the first tournament, the first game of the year. Definitely, some things to work on, but overall, I think they played well and did a good job.”
Ava Fischer led the way for the Trojans with 28 kills, 13 digs, 10 aces and five blocks.
Forest Park also received contributions from Charlie Larson (33 Kills, 14 aces and 9 digs), Lead Feldhausen (27 kills, 9 digs, 6 aces and 4 blocks), Ema Stepien (13 kills, 12 digs and 6 aces), Lauren Kudwa (2 kills, 1 ace, 1 dig and 1 assist), Audrey Franz (38 digs, 6 aces and 1 assist), Elsie Williams (37 assists, 12 kills, 4 digs and 2 aces), Ellie Ayers (9 kills and 5 blocks) and Dalaney Wagner (2 digs).