IRONWOOD - Forest Park swept Watersmeet 25-10, 25-11, 25-22 to capture the Class D District 128 volleyball championship held at the Lindquist Center on Friday night.

"We're very excited and very proud as a team," Trojans coach Kim Bjork said. "This match was a steppingstone to where we want to be, but we still have more goals, and they will get harder to achieve as we go along.

"We've been making it to the quarterfinals, and some of those girls went to the semifinals, so they want to go back."

Watersmeet coach Angie Brownell said the match was more mental than physical.

"We weren't the same team as last night against Ontonagon," she said. "A lot of it was in their heads. We had a mental block against this team like a lot of teams do. I yelled, joked and tried everything, but I couldn't loosen them up."

A team with eight seniors should be ready for the start of a district championship game, and Forest Park looked like a well-oiled machine coming out of the gate.

They started with a 10-4 lead, and then increased it to 16-6 off Andrea Bal's six straight serving points. Only Abby Ryskey's kill from the left side slowed down the Forest Park's charge.

Sophomore Trojan Audrey Sholander served four more consecutive points, and lefty Alexandra LaChapelle finished the game with her hard serving.

"Our strategy was to attack," Bjork said. "They have only one blocker, and we drew her away with our fakes and then went to the outside."

In game two, the Nimrods took their shots at Forest Park, but everything they hit seemed to come back at them.

"I was very impressed by them (Forest Park)," Brownell said. "No matter what happened, they stayed calm and poised."

Bjork said this is one thing she stresses to her team. "This team is a cool,

calm group, and they don't panic or get frustrated easily," she said.

The Nimrods finished with an 11-4 overall record.

"I didn't expect to see Watersmeet in the finals," Bjork said. "They played real well."

Forest Park (27-3) advances to the Class D regional at North Dickinson. Hancock has also qualified for the regional which begins Tuesday.

In Class D district finals today, North Dickinson hosts Superior Central at noon and Engadine entertains Rapid River.

... Host Iron Mountain meets Saint Ignace at 5 p.m. Tuesday to open the Class C regional volleyball tournament.

Negaunee and Calumet will clash in the second semifinal Tuesday. Regional final will start at 6 p.m. Thursday.

"Saint Ignace is a very good team," said Manistique Coach Amy Senger, whose Emeralds suffered a 3-2 district semifinal loss to the Saints. "They have some good middle hitters. They would probably be in the top half of our (Mid-Peninsula) conference."