BARAGA — For the first time in Hancock High School volleyball history, the Bulldogs are regional champs. On Thursday, they downed the Forest Park Lady Trojans 3-0 (25-18, 25-1 and 25-23) for the MHSAA Division 4 Region 25 title. Bulldogs’ coach Brian Lampaa credits senior leadership to his team’s winning ways.

“We have eight seniors, and they work hard,” he stated. “They are a great group of girls who have been key in our success this season.”

He added that they were on top of their game Thursday particularly in servicing and passing.

Case in point was the Bulldogs’ four-point lead to open the first at 7-3. It got better at 10-4 thanks to a tip off the fingers of Hancock’s Reese Driscoll.

“It simply wasn’t our night,” Forest Park head coach Bobbie Jo Anderson said. “Hancock came out strong and showed they were the better team tonight. We had trouble finding our rhythm, and their aggressive play kept our offense off balance. I’m incredibly proud of our young team and everything we’ve achieved this season. I hope each player takes away valuable lessons from this experience and comes back even more determined next year. A special thank you to our seniors for their hard work and commitment to our program–we wish them all the best.”

While the Lady Trojans got within two at 18-20, the Bulldogs’ Lynn Heinonen served up five in a row for a 25-18 win.

In the second, momentum continued with the Bulldogs. Driscoll pushed her team out to an 8-2 lead. While the Lady Trojans shrunk that difference to three at 12-15, that is as good as it got. They struggled to put any significant runs together.

Add to that the fact that the Bulldogs did not let up. A kill by Brooke Koskela at 19-13 set the pace for a 25-18 second-set win.

“We have a high-power offense, and that was spot on tonight,” Lampaa added. “It scored us a lot of points as it has all season. In particular, Brooke (Koskela) and Sophie (Freeman) did a great job of playing their game.”

The third set was the Lady Trojans’ best despite a 7-4 deficit to open.

With Vienna Price at the service line, they came back to tie this one at nine and take their first lead\at 11-9. It was then a literal back-and-forth battle between these two. After ties at 14, 16 and 17, it was knotted at 20, 21 and 23 before the Bulldogs won the race to 25. Minutes later they raised the regional trophy up high for the first time in school history.

Forest Park junior Ava Fischer led the way, posting a double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs.

She also tallied an assist and three blocks.

The Lady Trojans also received contributions from Price (10 assists, 6 digs, 1 ace), Ellie Ayers (1 kill, 3 blocks), Elsie Williams (6 kills, 12 assists, 7 digs), Tessa Bartoszek (2 kills, 1 dig), Lily Curnow (10 digs, 1 ace), Evie Anderson (1 kill, 3 blocks, 11 digs) and Harper Anderson (2 kills, 1 block, 14 digs, 1 ace).

UP NEXT

With the win, the Bulldogs are among the eight-best D4 teams in the state. They will charter into unknown territory as they will play in the MHSAA D4 Quarterfinal 13 game on Tuesday in Manistique.

The opening serve is set for 7 p.m. They will face the Atlanta Huskies – a team that beat St. Ignace (3-0) to earn their regional trophy.