Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Maddie Buschell, left, hits the ball as Houghton’s Stella Wickstrom defends on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021, in Lake Linden, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — The Houghton Gremlins made quick work of the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes with a sweep on Thursday.

The Gremlins won by scores of 25-16, 25-20 and 25-20.

While kicking off the first set, Maya Stier of the Gremlins threw down an ace for an opening 3-1 lead, the Lakes were able to come back and tie it at five.

The Gremlins kept LL-H there as that turned into a 9-5 lead and eventually an 18–10 tilt. They lost the opener 25-16.

“We did a great job of finding the holes on the floor offensively,” said Gremlins’ head coach Blaire Zenner.

As the second set got under way, it looked a lot like the first. The Gremlins pushed out to a 7-3 lead when LL-H’s Camaryn Crouch came to the line. She put up an ace and a couple of more points, and the score was tied at seven.

With LL-H’s Maddie Buschell at the line the Lakes took their first lead of the night at 14-12 and 16-14. The Gremlins came back to tie it at 16. The game was tied again at 18 and 19 before the Gremlins pulled away with a 25-20 victory.

We are a very young team,” said Lakes head coach Ellen Jarvis. “We have lots of sophomores, and we are still learning a lot about the game. We have been working really hard on our serve receive, and that was really good for us today.”

In the third set, the Gremlins again stayed two or three steps ahead of the Lakes. The two teams tied at 10 but with Houghton’s Brina Kirkpatrick at the line the score improved to 16-13as she served up two of her four aces on the night. Equally strong for the Gremlins was senior middle Stella Wickstrom. She had four kills and five blocks in the game. It was tough for the Lakes to get past her lengthy reach.

The two squads battled into a 19-19 before the Gremlins pulled out 23-20 lead and then a 25-20 victory.

“Stella did a great job with the blocks,” Zenner said. “She did a great job of reading the hitters.”

Buschell finished with five kills. Becca Lyons had three kills. Crouch had three kills, nine assists, three aces and nine digs. Brooke Banfield had six digs.

Houghton plays in the Escanaba Invitational on Saturday, while Lake Linden-Hubbell plays in the Bark River-Harris tournament.

Calumet sweeps Gwinn

GWINN — Calumet rolled past Gwinn 3-0 on Thursday. The Copper Kings won by scores of 25-19, 25-11 and 25-16.

Helen Beiring had 13 kills. Marybeth Halonen had six kills, two aces and nine digs. Ila Goulette had six kills and four blocks. Laura Giachino had two kills and three blocks.