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HANCOCK - The Hancock volleyball team completed the Class D district tournament sweep Thursday night with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-15) victory over the Baraga Vikings to claim a spot in next week's regional tournament at North Dickinson High School in Felch.

"Tonight was absolutely amazing, our team worked our butts off and I don't think we deserved anything less," Hancock junior Maria Almquist said.

Almquist led the 'Dawgs with 12 kills, and was a towering force that the Vikings couldn't control.

"We're not used to seeing so many people on the team that serve and hit that hard," said Peggy Reinsch, Baraga's coach. "Tonight was fast-paced, I warned the girls that we're going to see a lot of different tempos, hitters and locations, and that's exactly what we saw tonight."

The Bulldogs pulled ahead early in set one as Briana Raasio's jump serve gave the Bulldogs a 5-0 advantage.

Almquist added to it a few minutes later and the Bulldogs held a 15-4 early advantage. The Vikings kept up with Hancock for the rest of the set, but Hancock finished the set with the same 11-point edge.

A passionate effort by Baraga gave its fans and players hope that the Vikings were going to have some of the same magic that led them to a district championship in 2008.

The Vikings owned a 7-5 advantage before Hancock slowly chipped away at the lead.

It wasn't until sophomore Dinah Bekkala served three straight points to give Hancock a 21-15 edge that the set was out of reach. Eventually Lynnette Hokenson finished the set at the service line.

"We all believed that the magic could be back this year," Reinsch said. "We knew how hard we had to work and when you believe it hurts more when you lose, but I told the girls you can't protect yourself.

"You just have to believe it, and you have to go all out, which I think they did."

Whatever hope the Vikings had left was crushed in the fourth set as Raasio's jump serve did more damage, helping the Bulldogs jump out to a 9-0 lead early on.

"Tonight I finally decided to put it out there every time, playing to win," Raasio said. "I missed a few early on because I was nervous, but I knew I needed to get it (the serve) in."

Raasio finished the match with 11 aces, while also adding eight kills and 12 digs.

"In all our years on varsity, we haven't gone this far," she said.

The Bulldogs held a double-digit advantage most of the set, and finished the clinching set up 25-15.

"I saw our team finally come together physically, emotionally and mentally," HCH coach Kristan Schuster said. "I think a lot of that has to do with everyone being together, everyone is healthy for the first time."

Schuster's team had the opportunity to watch Baraga play Tuesday, and Schuster said that helped them prepare for Thursday.

"We came out knowing it would be a tough match, we watched them Tuesday and were impressed," she said. "We knew who we needed to focus on after watching them pick apart the Lake Linden defense."

Baraga was led by Ashley Angle's five digs, Paige Maskill's three kills and Rebecca Rasanen's three blocks.

Lucy Storm finished the match with 28 assists, six digs and four aces for Hancock.

The Bulldogs will play Tuesday at North Dickinson High School against Engadine or Rapid River, who play Saturday at Engadine. To prepare, Schuster said the team will work on positioning and communication.

"We have a few little things we need to work on, fundamentally with positioning and communication," said Schuster. "It will get harder down the road to communicate as the gyms get louder and louder."

Michael H. Babcock can be reached at mbabcock@mininggazette.com.