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Finding a rhythm

CHASSELL – Whether it was due to a week off, opening-game nervousness or a combination of both, the dominant Hancock Bulldogs Sarah Grieger was accustomed to coaching was noticeably absent.

The Bulldogs missed their marks on their attack – with hits sailing wide or into the net – and led the Chassell Panthers just 16-15 in the opening set before Grieger called timeout.

“I think we were a little bit nervous,” Grieger said. “We were playing flat-footed Our offense was a little bit off, but once the girls started getting their hits in, and actually swinging, everything changed.”

Hancock found the rhythm that fueled its title run at the Kingsford Invite on Aug. 20 and closed the opening set on a 9-5 run before sweeping Chassell 25-20, 25-7 and 25-12 Tuesday in Chassell.

“I told them they needed to be more aggressive,” Grieger said. “This wasn’t the team that I recognized from the Kingsford tournament. We needed to get back to how we played at Kingsford, and they did.”

Kaisa Holmstrom led the Hancock attack, recording 16 kills, nine digs and two blocks. Whether she was in the front or the back row, Chassell had no answer for her aggressive barrage of attacks.

“When she’s on, everyone gets fired up,” Grieger said of Holmstrom. “It’s just a huge morale boost to see those kills that she can put down.”

Holmstrom was at her most dominant in the second set, when she recorded eight of her 16 kills. But the senior was clutch during the most tense part of the match – when the first set was tied at 20 – tallying the go-ahead kill before putting her team up 23-20 with her final kill in the opening set.

The final two sets lacked the back-and-forth drama of the opener, as Hancock started the second on a 10-2 run before closing on a 10-0 run. Hancock continued its momentum into an 8-0 lead to begin the third set. Hancock’s Aili Paavola served during her team’s rallies and finished with four aces and seven digs.

“She really knows how to place the serve,” Grieger said of Paavola, “and how to change it up to be to our advantage and take advantage of the other team’s weaknesses.”

Chassell’s final jolt to the Bulldogs came when Adia Anderson recorded an ace and two kills to tie the opener 20-20. But from there, Chassell scored just 19 points in the final two sets, combined.

“With this being this early in the season, we’re seeing lower levels of consistency than I would like to see, especially with things like blocking,” Chassell head coach Kaitlyn Hietala said. “Hancock has a very strong offensive team, and I don’t think we were ready for that this early in the season.”

Julia Nordstrom led the Panthers with four kills and seven digs, while Milly Allen recorded nine digs and Anderson added another ace to finish with three for the match.

“I saw a lot of positives in this game, especially out of people I wasn’t necessarily expecting,” Hietala said. “Sydney Danison played on varsity last year, but we’re reteaching her a lot of stuff. Rebecca Markham had a lot of consistent serves for us; and then my libero, Milly Allen, had some big digs that are something that we can run an offense off of. Traditionally I don’t feel like our program has seen a nice, strong libero, so to see that early in the season is definitely a plus.”

Up next, Hancock hosts Lake Linden-Hubbell, while Chassell welcomes Dollar Bay on the same day.

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