ingsford’s Mya Brunswick (15) hammers a kill between Marquette defenders Kiera Daugherty (10) and Allie Sims (7) on Thursday at Kingsford. (Terry Raiche photo)

KINGSFORD — Unlike other recent seasons, the Kingsford Flivvers entered the 2025 campaign with uncertainty.

Gone were six players from a team that established a legacy of success for the program in 2023 and 2024. And though the Flivvers returned two players with varsity experience from last year — senior middle Cassie Olson and junior outside hitter Mylee Kreider — they introduced a string of athletes to either new starting roles or to the top level of prep volleyball in general.

Despite that, this year’s Flivvers equaled one of the accomplishments of the last two squads — they captured the Great Northern Conference championship without a loss.

Kreider blasted 13 kills, while Staysha Jarski added six and Olson and Mya Brunswick contributed five each to lead Kingsford to a 25-10, 25-22, 25-14 sweep of visiting Marquette.

With the victory, the Flivvers completed an 8-0 league record and extended their GNC winning streak to at least 24 matches (MHSAA team records from the 2022-23 season are incomplete.)

“All of us are pretty new to the game, but I had a really good confidence that we were going to be able to go undefeated and be conference champs,” Kreider said. “We’re all new to each other and it’s been fun.”

Her mother and coach Jaclynn offered her view of the way the regular season unfolded.

“You look at it, we struggled a lot in the summer, especially when we went to team camps, and so I wasn’t sure how things were going to go,” Coach Kreider began. “So, was I surprised? In some sense I think I was because I wasn’t sure how the pieces were going to fit together. And then, very early in the season it was like, no I’m not surprised because these are kids who have put a lot of time into volleyball and … we were going to be OK.”

While the 2024 team glided smoothly through its GNC season with only two set losses, this year’s group has dealt with injuries, occasional confidence issues from some players and changing roles.

But no matter.

“It’s an interesting group,” Jaclynn Kreider said. “Some kids struggle with focus, so practices have not been as effective as they have in the past.

But this team continues to find ways to win, and it’s been different kids in different moments.”

Thursday’s match against the Sentinels (9-16-1) was tight early on before the UPSSA second-ranked Flivvers (20-2) broke a 7-7 tie with an 18-3 run to capture the opening set convincingly.

Junior Mya Brunswick ran off 10 straight service points, including two aces, to lead the surge.

“That long run that she went on, she hit every spot that I told her,” Coach Kreider said of Brunswick. “She doesn’t just have a high efficiency on getting the ball the ball over, she has a high efficiency of hitting the right spots.”

It was also during that stretch of play that Mylee Kreider began to assert herself. The physically gifted Kreider pounded a kill at 20-9 to begin the final stretch of the set, which was closed out by a kill from her freshman sister Mckynzee, a block by Olson and a roll shot by Lakyn Wallis.

Marquette stood tougher in the second set, grabbing a 9-5 lead on an ace by junior setter Preslie Mason. But Mylee Kreider belted one of her five second-set kills to get things back on course for the Flivvers, who broke a 17-all tie by recording eight of the final 13 points.

Mylee Kreider closed the set with another one of her powerful spikes.

“We’ve asked her to just jump and reach,” Coach Kreider said of her daughter. “Kynzee tends to set a little bit of a higher ball for her, so we just really wanted to see if we could get her to focus more on reaching and swinging hard.”

Ironically, on Mylee’s first touch of the match, she pushed the ball for an error. On the next point she rotated out and during the break gave herself a little advice.

“Back to hitting and not pushing into the net,” Mylee said with a smile.

The third set turned early when Kingsford built a 9-4 lead keyed by two kills from Jarski, a kill by Wallis, a tip by Mylee Kreider and an ace from Mckynzee Kreider.

Marquette pulled to within 11-8 on a Kingsford hitting error but were never able to get closer as the Flivvers posted the sweep on Senior Night honoring Olson, Karly Trevillian and Adelyn Normand.

“I think we just had a lot of energy tonight,” Coach Kreider said. “We really wanted to play for the seniors, and we’re not guaranteed to be back here now, right. They each bring something special to the team, so I really wanted to bring it for them tonight.”

The Flivver coach then spoke about what each of the three have contributed to this year’s team and the program overall.

“Cassie’s the one that’s been on the floor and has the most experience. But what Cassie brings besides that experience is she never takes a second off in practice or in a game. She works hard all the time, and it helps keep that practice intensity up.”

Then she moved on to Normand, who has filled a role as a serving specialist.

“Having her accept her role has been awesome, and she has always done a really good job of celebrating her teammates from the sideline. And I feel that is super valuable coming from a senior.”

And then to Trevillian, who led the Flivvers in assists against Marquette with 15.

“Karly is naturally just a fantastic leader and she’s positive and calming in every situation when she’s leading. There’s been moments that personally I, as a coach, have struggled. I’m super honest with the girls when I’m struggling in practice and she’s always been the one to say, ‘It’s OK Coach, we’re going to figure this out together.

“So, such a great year with these three seniors.”

Other category leaders Thursday night included Brunswick with two aces, Alivia Nash and Mckynzee Kreider with 12 digs each and Olson with one solo block and one assisted block.

Now the Flivvers turn their sights toward attempting to win their fourth consecutive MHSAA Division 2 District 33 title. Kingsford will travel to Houghton (10-7) to face the fourth-ranked Gremlins on Wednesday.

If they win, the Flivvers will host the final on Thursday against either the Escanaba (16-11-1) vs. Gladstone (10-12) winner or third-ranked Negaunee (18-9-4).