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West Iron’s inconsistency returns in loss

IRON RIVER — The awareness of high school athletes can often be overlooked. But most players, especially the experienced ones, are quite in tune with what’s happening in their games and with their team.

Take West Iron senior volleyball player Haylie Murillo. In diagnosing the Wykons’ 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-19 loss to visiting Houghton on Tuesday night, Murillo’s analysis was spot on.

“I think we really started off hard and we were determined to win because it was our last home game,” she said. “I feel like we kept the momentum up and we were excited.

“And then the second game rolled around and errors started to creep up on us.”

Aside from the peculiar tendency in prep volleyball for the team winning the opening set to come out flat in the second, the Wykons (13-9-2) began to commit errors they didn’t in the first set, some caused by Houghton’s improved play and some unforced.

And their drop in play was consistent with how the Wykons have played throughout the regular season. Simply put, West Iron’s most consistent tendency this season has been its inconsistency.

“I sense that we get in our own mind,” Murillo said. “It’s individual. We’re so hard on ourselves (because) we want to be the best we can.”

In the opening set, West Iron went on a 7-2 run to take an 11-6 advantage. Wykon junior setter Lily DeSousa smacked an ace, Murillo won a 50/50 ball at the net and Addi Bortolameolli recorded a tip to spark the surge.

The Gremlins (11-16-1) fired back with a 9-2 stretch that put the visitors up 15-13. Houghton senior Eva Gerard led the way with two kills and a tip while junior Lexi Burns registered seven straight service points, including an ace.

The teams battled neck-and-neck until the end of the set when the Wykons tallied the final three points on two aces by Bortolameolli and a tip by Bristol Shamion.

Murillo said her team executed the basics of sound offensive volleyball during the first set.

“When (the offensive execution) is happening, it’s usually our back row,” she said. “If they can get the ball up and if they can set it up, it really helps the team a lot.

“And once we start getting kill after kill, the happiness just skyrockets, and we can work well together.”

A noticeably frustrated Gremlin squad began to play better in the second set, jumping out to a 11-3 lead, sparked by two kills and a roll shot by Sophie Hebert, a block and a kill by Chloe Serafin and aces by Kia Markham and Laney Johnson.

The Gremlins’ run put West Iron back on its heels, and with the increasing error count, the Wykons never climbed back into the second set.

The third set was a tight battle throughout. Houghton grabbed a 9-6 edge before West Iron went up 15-13 on a kill down the line by Shamion.

The set went down to the wire before Serafin recorded a block and Emilyn Fay scored a kill off a slide set.

Houghton rode its momentum into the fourth set and led from start to finish. Two kills each by Bortolameolli and Murillo, one kill from Sidney Storti and an ace by DeSousa helped West Iron stay close, but an ace by Markham and a kill by Serafin spelled the end for the Wykons.

And with that, West Iron’s seven seniors – Murillo, Storti, Kaylee Rosengren, Eiley Meske, Gracyn Melstrom, Rowyn Fiszer and Savannah Parker had played their final match at Charles Greenlund Gymnasium.

“It’s so surreal,” Murillo said. “Obviously when we got done playing, everyone just broke out in tears because we love our team so much. It got really emotional.”

West Iron opens MHSAA Division 3 District 65 play at Ishpeming on Monday, Nov. 4.

The Wykons, who hope to have starting junior hitter Lacey Shamion back for the tournament after a recent appendectomy, swept the two matches against the Hematites during the regular campaign.

Houghton travels to Kingsford to play the Division 1-3 second-ranked Flivvers (29-4) in Division 2 District 33 on Wednesday, Nov. 6.

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