Mountaineers sweep Knights to take title
By RON DEUTER, Sports WriterArticle Photos
IRON MOUNTAIN Consistent play and smart volleyball carried Iron Mountain to another Class C District 95 title here Thursday night with a 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 win over Norway.
"It feels good," said Mountaineers head coach Jeanne Newberry of winning the district. "It's a compliment to the kids. They really took charge of the game. It's because of their eagerness to go out there and play strong."
Mountaineers defeated the Knights for a third time this season. Like Tuesday night's match against West Iron County, the Knights were streaky throughout and Iron Mountain successfully rode out Norway's hot streaks while pouncing on their miscues.
Michaela Newberry paced Iron Mountain's attack with seven kills. She also had two aces and a block.
Sarah Ring added five kills, a block and an ace. Miranda Celello pushed over four kills. Rikki Gingras had four kills and Nikki Trevarthen added three with a block and three aces.
"They all played well tonight," Newberry said. "Did a good job of backing off the net. I thought Michaela did a good job of coming off quickly."
An impressive serving run by Allison Lebo helped the Mountaineers erase a 19-17 deficit and steal momentum in the first set. Lebo served two aces during the push and kept the Knights out of sync on the receive.
Even two Norway timeouts couldn't disrupt the flow as Mountaineers closed the set on an 8-0 run.
Momentum remained with Iron Mountain in set two. A couple of Gingras kills, a Trevarthen block and two aces by Newberry buoyed the Mountaineers to a 10-5 lead, a that never faded.
Balanced play up front help Norway hang close early in the third set.
The teams were tied 9-9 when Celello slammed down a Knights' over pass to put Iron Mountain ahead. Then aces on two of the next three points by Trevarthen gave the Mountaineers a margin they would not lose.
"There were good hands for Norway at the net tonight," Newberry said. "They blocked a lot of our balls. I give my kids a lot of credit for picking it up. Again, playing smart and not making unforced errors was key."
Dani Gagne, Brooke Bosch and Brooke Julian each tallied seven kills for Norway. Missy Urbanc led the Knights with 13 digs.
"We played with more intensity than we have all year," Knights coach Nicole Anderson said. "The girls fought hard to the very end.
"Our seniors had a great year and we will miss them. We have a great group of girls returning and we look forward to good things from them."
Iron Mountain will host next week's regional tournament and faces off against St. Ignace on Tuesday. Calumet meets Negaunee in the other regional semifinal.
"I'm proud to say we have one more game to play," Newberry said.
Summary follows:
Norway
Missy Urbanc - 13 digs, 1 assist.
Kristi Peroceschi - 9 digs, 1 kill, 1 assist, 1 ace.
Dani Gagne - 7 kills, 7 digs.
Laura Wilson - 12 assists, 2 kills.
Brooke Bosch - 8 digs, 7 kills, 1 ace, 1 block, 1 assist.
Bailey Grayvold - 5 digs, 1 assist.
Maria Fontana - 2 digs, 1 kill.
Brooke Julian - 7 kills, 2 digs, 1 block.
Emily Zanoni - 9 digs, 7 assists, 1 ace, 1 kill.
Amber Manowski - 3 digs, 2 assists, 1 ace.
Iron Mountain
Allison Lebo - 2 kills, 2 aces.
Michaela Newberry - 7 kills, 2 aces.
Sarah Ring - 5 kills, 1 block, 2 aces.
Miranda Celello - 4 kills, 2 aces.
Nikki Trevarthen - 3 kills, 3 aces, 1 blocks.
Rikki Gingras - 4 kills, 1 block, 1 ace





