Negaunee's Marisa Hird makes a hit with teammate Rachel Niskanen watching duirng a high school volleyball match against Iron Mountain on Tuesday at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee. (Journal photo by Travis Nelson)

NEGAUNEE — The Negaunee High School volleyball team couldn’t have looked better in the first two sets against visiting Iron Mountain on Tuesday evening, making the entire match look like a rout.

But the Mountaineers stormed back to win Set 3 and make things interesting in the fourth. By the time the dust settled, the Miners were able to pull out a four-set victory, 25-17, 25-14, 19-25, 25-20.

After dropping their earlier meeting this season to Iron Mountain at last week’s Kingsford Invitational, the Miners were looking for some redemption.

The Mountaineers’ Chloe Maycroft went down early in the match with an ankle injury and her teammates, quite literally, could not find their footing. Negaunee was able to use Iron Mountain miscues with its own strong attack to pile on the points at the start of the match.

“Give credit where credit’s due, Iron Mountain is good and scrappy,” Negaunee coach Krista Squiers said. “We saw them at a tournament earlier this (month), and things didn’t go our way.

“We’ve been planning and preparing; we’ve been working and it shows. We showed up tonight, and it’s big. I couldn’t be more pleased as a coach for how they performed.”

Negaunee roared out of the gates to a 6-3 lead. Early on, it was clear that the Miners’ Ashley Bell and Eliana Juchemich would do damage at the net, and they did just that with multiple kills in the opening set.

NHS’ lead ballooned to 22-15, with setter Rachel Niskanen providing opportunities for her team’s offense to thrive. Juchemich ended the set strong for the Miners with a kill to finish it off. Rallying at home with the backing of a loud student section, NHS took off quickly.

“I have to give a shout-out to our fans, that was awesome,” Squiers said. “It’s awesome to have those kids show up for their classmates, and Negaunee is just a tight-knit community. I’m very thankful and appreciative for those kids showing up and hollering and screaming.”

Negaunee was in firm control during the first set, which was even more true in the second. The Miners found a serving duo to put away points in Niskanen and Marisa Hird. The pair were responsible for getting Negaunee off to an 8-2 lead. Then Juchemich and Martha Rutherford put away points for NHS with back-to-back kills, making it 10-5.

Hird’s serve came up with her team ahead 18-13, and the Miners scored seven of the next eight points to end the set. The clinching point was a huge spike by Juchemich that maintained Negaunee’s momentum.

“Volleyball is such a momentum game, and people don’t always realize how much of a momentum game it is,” Squiers said. “Even something as simple as subbing out a player, or a well timed timeout can totally mess with your ‘mojo’ on the floor.

“These girls wanted redemption for their showing at that tournament; they came after it.”

But the Mountaineers didn’t fold the tent and instead found a way to reverse that momentum in the third set. Ellison Powell was on fire for IM, with her front-line mates chipping in to do some damage to take a 15-9 lead.

Emily Copley also provided an ace during the IM run to make it 22-15, prompting a Negaunee timeout. The Miners tried to make a comeback behind the serving of Kylie Heggaton, but Powell finished a long rally with a kill to put it out of reach.

“When Chloe Maycroft went down with an ankle injury early on, it changed the whole dynamic of our offense and defense,” IM coach Jeanne Newberry said. “Transitioning (from that), we were slow. I was proud to see them come back and have strong momentum because they learned with each other the first two sets.

“You can’t take anything away from Negaunee, because they had two strong middles (Bell and Juchemich), and their setter (Niskanen) moved the ball around. They had strong serves and had us struggling defensively.”

With the Mountaineers back in the match, the fourth set was the most even of the match, starting out 12-12.

Negaunee looked like it was taking the momentum back after establishing a 19-17 lead, but the Mountaineers responded to tie it back up. Rutherford served for the Miners after they went up 20-19, leading the NHS to four straight points with her serving to put a stranglehold on the set.

Bell was her team’s closer down the stretch with three kills in a row before Niskanen finished the match with one of her own.

Bell led Negaunee with 15 kills, while Juchemich compiled nine to go with 11 digs. Heggaton led the Miners with 26 digs as Niskanen finished with 27 assists and 14 digs. Hird and Niskanen each had four service aces, while Rutherford added 11 digs and four assists.

Powell was all over the place statistically for Iron Mountain, leading the Mountaineers in both digs and kills with 17 and 14, respectively. Teammate Emma Ellis had 15 assists, while Izzy Lewis had a big night with 16 digs and four aces.

Both teams go on the road for their next match with Iron Mountain traveling to Ishpeming on Thursday, while Negaunee is off for a week before traveling to Marquette on Tuesday.

Travis Nelson can be reached by email at tnelson@miningjournal.net.

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