Paul Peterson photo Deja Brule of Houghton tips a shot over the net as Sydney LaCourt of Hancock defends Thursday night. The Gremlins swept the league match over their rivals.

HOUGHTON —  After a so-so performance at Kingsford on Tuesday, Houghton High volleyball coach John Christianson was looking for better results Thursday night against archrival Hancock.

He got just that in a 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-15) win that the Orange and Black made look fairly easy.

“We didn’t play up to our potential versus Kingsford,” Christianson commented. “We made way too many service errors. Way too many mental errors, we were making some bad choices.”

That led to the Gremlins spending a lot of time at practice on Wednesday, cleaning up their game.

“That’s what we did tonight. I think we had two service errors all night, where we had 12 at Kingsford,” the HHS skipper said. “We’re serving the ball tough at them, which is what we have to be able do to play with Calumet and the other good teams around here.”

Hancock coach Sarah Greiger said her squad, which swept L’Anse on Tuesday, came out flat in the match.

“I thought we would come out tonight with a little fire,” Grieger said. “But we didn’t, and against a team as good as Houghton, that caught up to us.”

Sparked by the excellent serving of Frankie Stukel (four aces), Daityn Markham (three aces) and Madi Dillinger (three aces), the eventual winners began taking over the match midway through the opening set.

“Our service game was excellent as you can tell by the number of aces we had,” Christianson noted.

Hancock was unable to make any inroads on the Houghton momentum.

The Crimson and Gold fell behind by a 10-0 count in the final set.

Dillinger recorded 14 digs and Stukel had five more. Mackenzie Klein had a team-high eight assists. Kiley Farrey registered five kills, while Dillinger and 6-foot-5 junior Deja Brule notched three apiece. Christianson said Brule affected how Hancock played at the net.

“You could see how high they (Bulldogs) were sending the ball to get it over her,” he said. “Even if she doesn’t touch the ball, she affects the game.”

Clairiane Akuino led Hancock with 14 digs and two kills. Emma Almquist recorded three kills, Karena Holmstrom added 12 digs and Ally Laux made nine digs.

“I believe we’re capable of playing better than we did tonight,” Grieger commented. We just have to work at it.”

Houghton, now 19-7-4 overall and 3-0 in league action, will travel to Calumet Tuesday for a West-PAC showdown.

Hancock will host Dollar Bay the same evening.