Baraga’s Makenna Hendrickson, left, defends a swing by Ironwood’s Madison Sterbenz during a MHSAA Division 4 regional semifinal Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in Ontonagon, Mich. (Jason Juno/Ironwood Daily Globe)

ONTONAGON — Ironwood’s volleyball season continues after the Red Devils defeated Baraga 3-1 in a Division 4 regional semifinal Tuesday night.

Ironwood won by scores of 27-25, 25-17, 22-25 and 25-20.

The postseason up until now has been a de facto Copper Mountain Conference tournament. The Red Devils have defeated four league teams to get to this point. All 12 of the conference teams were in the two districts won by Ironwood and Baraga and the Devils came out on top.

It’s the Red Devils first year in the league and in the Division 4 postseason after dropping down from Division 3 and leaving the Indianhead Conference for a league in their own state. Ironwood lost one conference game all year, to Jeffers while shorthanded, and they’re in the midst of a deep postseason run.

“That was fun, it’s exciting to win,” Ironwood coach Lisa Fechter said. “I’ve never won a regional, or a regional game even, so that was fun to win that one.”

Ironwood hopes to keep it going. They head to Crystal Falls Thursday night to play Superior Central in the regional championship game at 6 p.m.

“It’d be exciting to take another game and win the regional,” Fechter said.

Much like the district final sweep of Wakefield-Marenisco took three hard-fought set wins to get it done, beating Baraga wasn’t easy either.

The Red Devils let an eight-point lead evaporate in the first set and were on the verge of losing it, trailing 25-24. They tied it up and then went ahead as Hannah Kreiner got the point for Ironwood while injuring her ankle badly enough to miss the rest of the night. Ironwood scored the next point to get the crucial first-set win.

The Devils picked up their easiest set win of the night in the second game, 25-17, and Baraga took the third 25-22.

Ironwood led the whole way in the fourth and final set, but they let Baraga make things interesting down the stretch, as the Vikings closed the gap to 23-20. But Ironwood scored the final two points to win the set and the match.

“Baraga played tough,” Fechter said. “We let up a little bit in the third game and just were kind of complacent and just didn’t play our game and let them have it. We can’t do that in the next one, that’s for sure.”

Baraga got here by upsetting Jeffers and winning its first district title since 2008. But they had trouble defending Ironwood’s attack.

“They’re consistent hitters,” Baraga coach Corey Pietila said. “They know how to hit right in the loop every time they get the ball and that was a challenge for us. We were playing deep, not coming up with the ball, playing them too short and getting burned.”

Ironwood’s top hitter, Aundrea Stengard, led the Devils with 11 kills. Madison Sterbenz wasn’t far behind with eight, Savannah Hannu had four, Tia Lahti had three and Alaya Ruotsala two. Lahti finished with 24 assists. Sterbenz also had three aces and Hannu had two while Ruotsala recorded seven digs.

“Tia played a great game, she was attacking while she was all over the floor, same with Alaya Ruotsala, she was getting the ball up for us,” Fechter said. “Our passing wasn’t as on as we have had in the past, but we played well enough to win, so we win and move at this point.”

Sterbenz had three blocks as well and freshman Bree Delich had five, contributing in a big way with Kreiner, a senior, out for the final three sets. Delich has gotten a lot of playing time at the net throughout the year as Ironwood dealt with injuries in the middle.

“She stepped up huge,” Fechter said. “She was getting her hands on every attack, she was doing exactly what we were asking of her, she played tough.”

Kreiner couldn’t put much weight on her ankle, so there’s a fair chance Delich will have a big role again Thursday night.

“It’s a fairly even switch for the two,” Fechter said. “Hannah might be a little stronger attacker, but Bree is a little quicker and gets her hands on a lot of balls that the other team attacks at us.”

Copper Mountain Conference MVP Reide Osterman of Baraga had at least 10 kills, Pietila said.

“She deserved that,” Pietila said. “She played hard, she’s a leader out there.”

Fechter used that award as motivation for her team because it works for them.

“They stepped up to the challenge, they like that, they get really fired up and feisty whenever they hear that somebody’s better than them. They really work harder,” Fechter said.

For the first time during the tournament, Ironwood will face someone they’re unfamiliar with. Superior Central swept Forest Park in its regional semifinal Tuesday night. She’s seen one of their games on film and has some scouting to do.

“From what I watched, I think it’s definitely a winnable game,” Fechter said. “At this point in the season, everything’s going to be a battle.”