Kingsford senior Kailey Sundquist (7) elevates above the net and dumps the ball over Calumet’s Chloe Coppo (14) and Allison Bjorn (17) on Tuesday at Flivver Gym. (Terry Raiche photo)

KINGSFORD — The scene was set Tuesday night at Flivver Gym for the biggest volleyball match of the 2024 season in the U.P. to this point.

The UPSSA Division 1-3 top-ranked Calumet Copper Kings, with their reputation for size and strength, met the second-ranked Kingsford Flivvers with their reputation for aggressive serving, athleticism and a standout group of seniors led by 2023 U.P. Ms. Volleyball Maddy Kreider.

After four sets of highly entertaining volleyball in a tournament-like atmosphere, the size and strength of the Copper Kings prevailed in a 26-24, 25-19, 18-25, 25-18 victory over the Flivvers.

Calumet’s highly vaunted attack of 6-foot-1 Madelyn Torola, 5-11 Allison Bjorn and 5-10 Jackie Kiilunen came as advertised, combining for 40 kills and dominating play for significant portions of the match.

The left-handed Torola (19 kills) hit all kinds of angles and consistently found the holes in the Kingsford defense, while Bjorn (11 kills) and Kiilunen (10 kills), at times, blasted away at the smaller Flivver block and defenders.

“They’ve got three great hitters,” Kingsford coach Jaclynn Kreider said. “I mean, Bjorn has an extremely powerful arm and she can just put the ball on the floor. (Kiilunen) jumps extremely well and she just jumps over our blockers and hits straight down.

“And (Torola), she made great, smart shots. She’s got the height to see over the block and around the block and tonight she just made a lot of a good variety of shots.”

Their coach, Kate Bonacorsi, could hardly disagree.

“All three of those kids can hit a ton of different shots,” the 2023 all-U.P. Division 1-3 coach of the year said.

“They can hit from any spot on the court, and they can hit it down the line and off the block. They’re very multi-faceted and explosive, smart attackers.”

Which all sounds quite intimidating, as it is for many teams. But the Flivvers (19-4) aren’t such a team and kept the match tight throughout.

Maddie Kreider started the match with an ace and the teams stayed locked in a close battle throughout the opening set.

The Copper Kings (16-3-2) got a leg up when senior setter Isabella Coppo floated a soft ace to give her team a 10-7 advantage and stayed ahead 15-11 on a cross-court spike to the deep corner by Bjorn.

But the Flivvers, though significantly smaller than Calumet, play with their own set of strengths – mainly a well-balanced attack, two excellent setters and a group of athletic defenders who can not only cover the court but pass effectively.

The Flivvers sliced their deficit to 17-15 before going on a 4-0 to take a 19-17 lead on an ace from Anna Bortolini.

A few points later, the teams stood deadlocked at 24-all before two Kingsford errors gave the Copper Kings a one-set edge.

“It never feels good when you lose right there, especially in extra points, because you feel a little deflated to start the night,” Coach Kreider said. “But I wasn’t too shaken up about that. We tried to remind the girls that we can battle back and make it a long night.”

The second set was quite disjointed. A long discussion involving the four referees and both coaches concerning whether Calumet had served out of rotation (they had) and how many points Kingsford should have been rewarded because of the infraction occurred at mid-set with the visitors up 14-9.

The Flivvers scored the next point on a Calumet error but never got closer than four as they fell into a two-set hole.

On the verge of being swept, the Flivvers needed a shot of adrenaline, and it came midway through the third. To start, junior middle Cassie Olson recorded back-to-back blocks to put her team up 10-8.

Shortly after, and with Ellery Nash serving, the Flivvers made their push. The rotation had Maddy Kreider on the left pin and the senior knocked down three consecutive kills followed by an ace from Nash and a then scoring tip from Kreider.

Just like that Kingsford led 16-9 and had Calumet on its heels as Bonacorsi burned a time out.

“The thing is, Maddy stayed extremely confident in that set, so I just said to Alyssa, “Keep going to Maddy until they stop her,'” Coach Kreider said. “Even if we’re one-dimensional, let’s just keep going to Maddy because she’s confident and she wants the ball.”

For the night, Maddy Kreider finished with another remarkable all-around stat line, this time with 23 kills, 24 digs, 19 assists and two aces.

None of which was lost on Bonacorsi.

“She’s a phenomenal setter, and it’s really impressive the way she takes a ball way out of system and puts it back into play for them to get a good swing at,” Bonacorsi said. “We tried to do some things defensively against her, but good hitters find a way to score, and she was able to do that, too.”

With a surge of momentum on their side, the Flivvers seemed primed to extend the match to a possible fifth set. But some uncharacteristically shaky play led to an 8-2 deficit and the Flivvers never really recovered as they lost their first match to a U.P. team this season.

Specifically, the Flivvers were up-and-down with their serving, an aspect of their offense that their coach felt was crucial against the Copper Kings.

For the match, Kingsford missed 14 serves (unofficially), including five in the fourth set.

“Obviously, we didn’t serve well, that’s the first thing right off the ball,” Coach Kreider said. “We had a lot of serving errors and unforced hitting errors.”

Still, given the nature of the Flivvers’ approach to serving, when they do get them in, they often are tough to deal with.

“They served us really tough, and it made it hard for us to get into system, and consequently we didn’t pass very well in serve receive,” Bonacorsi said.

After Torola smacked a kill down the line to end the match, the coaches reflected on the way things played out.

“It was an exciting battle,” Bonacorsi said. “Kingsford is definitely a big match for us, and we look forward to playing them. They haven’t always been on our schedule, but it’s good for both programs. It’s a competitive match and we’ve got to play them again in a couple of weeks (on Oct. 19 in Calumet).”

Jaclynn Kreider said matchups between the two programs are “fun.”

“I think it was great,” Coach Kreider said. “For me, I’m just excited about a good night of volleyball. And now we know what our weaknesses are. Stubbing our toe allows us to identify stuff that can make us better. And we don’t want to peak now, we need to peak in November.”

Stats

Kills – Ma. Kreider 23, Sundquist 6, Bortolini 5, My. Kreider 5,

Digs – Ma. Kreider 24, Nash 12, Larson 9, Sundquist 8, Bortolini 8, Viau 8, My. Kreider 6, Olson 3, Viau 2, Larson 1

Assists – Larson 22, Ma. Kreider 19, Nash 4, Viau 1

Aces – Viau 3, Nash 2, Sundquist 2, Ma. Kreider 2, Bortolini 1, Larson 1

Blocks – Olson 3, Bortolini 1, Viau 1, Sundquist 1