On the other hand, Kingsford coach Jaclynn Kreider most certainly did not.

Though the Flivvers swept the Mountaineers 25-23, 25-16, 25-17, the coaches’ reactions to the match were in direct opposition to which team won.

“I think my girls played the best they’ve played in the last three (matches),” Cronkright said. “We were in a little bit of a slump this weekend at (the Forest Park Invitational). But we came out strong, and we had really good serving.”

“They were serving aggressively but it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before,” Kreider said. “So, there’s really no excuse for our serve receive to execute so poorly.

Iron Mountain's Ava Sardina (22) sets up a shot Tuesday against Kingsford. (Terry Raiche photo)

“I mean, we work on it a ton. It’s something that’s in our practice every single night. And tonight, we looked like we didn’t know what to do with short (serves) or long (serves). That was really frustrating.”

IM’s Monroe Vedin started that whole dynamic on her team’s first service opportunity of the match. The sophomore ripped two hard line drive aces before the Flivvers mishandled the serve receive on the next two points.

Then Vedin caught the net cord on her next offer, but the ball dribbled over to put her team on top 7-1.

“Monroe is our only sophomore and she stepped up in serving tonight, “Cronkright said. “Sometimes she’s either in the net or super far off but (she serves) with a lot of power.

“Today she was super clean, and I was super impressed by that.”

Though the UPSSA Division 1-3 top-ranked Flivvers (11-0) remained spotty with their serve receive all night, they did fight their way back into the first set with superior hitting. Mylee Kreider ripped three kills and added a tip from the outside, Staysha Jarski smacked three kills on quick sets in the middle and both Cassie Olson and Mckynzee Kreider added a kill each to send the Flivvers on a 15-5 run that left them up 16-12.

Mylee Kreider finished with 13 kills to lead all hitters in the match. When she’s going well, the junior outside hitter is all but unstoppable with her impressive leaping ability and her strong arm. But the second-year starter tends to be somewhat mercurial in her play.

“I thought Mylee’s efficiency was good in the front row,” said her mother and coach. “She did a really good job in the front row and didn’t let that back-row struggle affect her. Which was nice because as we know Mylee can let that kind of thing carry into all aspects of her game.”

Olson and Mya Brunswick knocked down a kill each and Karly Trevillian fired an ace to help Kingsford increase its edge to 23-16. Nevertheless, the Mountaineers (3-13-1) scrapped back to within 24-23, sparked by two aces by senior Whitney Siren and another by Vedin.

Ironically, considering what had happened throughout the opening set, the Flivvers scored the final point on an Iron Mountain service error.

Iron Mountain came out in the second set and grabbed a 6-3 advantage, led by an ace by Siren and a block from senior Bella Person. Kingsford rallied to pull even on two aces and a kill by Mylee Kreider.

The Flivvers were unable to separate themselves from their cross-town rivals until late in the set when they went on an 11-3 run to win 25-16.

The third set began like the previous two, with the Mountaineers building a 10-7 lead, highlighted by two straight aces by junior Emma Bouchard.

IM maintained that margin until Brunswick went on a nine-point service run that featured two aces along with four kills by Olson.

The Flivvers finally clinched the victory on two kills from Mylee Kreider, a kill each from Lakyn Wallis and Emma Strom and an IM error.

Despite the defeat, Cronkright saw what she wanted from her squad.

“We are back to where we need to be to continue the season,” the first-year head varsity coach said. “It was a little nerve-wracking last week when we were in a slump because I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I thought tonight the girls came out and competed.”

On the other side, Coach Kreider tried to balance her happiness about how well her inexperienced crew has started the season with its spotty play against the Mountaineers.

“I’m happy with where we are this season with our record,” she began. “I don’t think a lot of people, including myself in the summer, thought that we were going to be in the position that we are at the end of September.

“But I’m not walking away tonight celebrating. I am really frustrated with the way we played. We had a lot of nonnegotiable controllables that to me, we didn’t do well.”

Norway 3

Superior Central 0

Norway claimed its third varsity match in a row, sweeping at home against Superior Central, 25-12, 25-18, 25-15.

Anna deBidart started the Knights off strong Tuesday, serving seven in a row after Norway

“Our serving percentage for the match was high at 94.7 percent,” said coach Meghan Rossato. “We did a fantastic job of serve receive digs and getting them right to our setter to make some big plays.”

Rossato also cited the play of Kendall Burklund and Chloe Chartier, noting Burklund’s “volleyball IQ is just well beyond her years.”

“Chloe Chartier had three solo blocks, and made some huge plays,” Rossato continued. “She has been working so hard on her timing this season and it shows, she is a force at the net. We didn’t hesitate tonight on defense and because of that we were able to play our pace of game. The girls did a fantastic job, super proud of them,” she said.

The Knights had reached the semifinals Saturday of the Forest Park Invitational.

Some upcoming events include Cancer Survivor/Cancer Fighters on Oct. 14 Players will honor friends and family before the game who have been touched by cancer.

Oct. 28 is Senior Night and camp games for elementary students. The young students will play a game at 3:30 p.m. and participate in honoring the four varsity seniors.

Norway stats:

Kendall Burklund, 11 kills, 12 digs, 4 aces

Anna deBidart, 7 digs, 1 ace

Chloe Chartier, 2 kills 1 dig 1 ace 3 blocks

Addy Burklund, 8 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace

Aili Freiberg, 4 digs, 1 ace, 18 assists

Ashley Carlson, 5 digs

Cayleah Clifford, 3 kills 1 dig

Tessa Castalez, 1 kill 1 dig

Payton Paquette, 5 digs

Allie Grable, 1 dig

Alyssa dela Cruz, 1 ace

Niagara 3

St. Thomas Aquinas Academy 0

Niagara accomplished a sweep on the road, winning 27-25, 25-18, 25-21.

“This was our first night operating on a new lineup after dealing with some injuries,” said coach Maryellen Allred. “Our team really struggled with consistent serving, which is typically one of our strong suites. We had some shining moments with our offense and some inconsistent ones. Our defense did a nice job of adjusting to a different pace of play.”

Niagara stats

Elesia Sweig, 5 aces, 1 kill, 9 assists, 7 digs

Lily Steinbrecher, 1 kill, 5 assists, 6 digs

Jaelyn Kleikamp, 1 assist, 4 digs

Bristol Sanicki, 7 aces, 10 kills, 1 block, 2 assists, 5 digs

Alyssa Hedmark, 5 kills, 1 block, 2 digs

Grace Payette, 1 ace, 1 assist, 8 digs

Lexi Johnston, 1 kill, 2 assists, 1 dig

Brooke Bruemer, 1 ace

Alivia Kleikamp, 4 kills, 1 assist, 2 digs

Sydney Swanson, 1 ace, 5 kills, 12 digs

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News Editor Jim Anderson contributed.