Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette The Houghton Middle School seventh grade volleyball team huddles up after scoring a point last week at a tournament in Calumet.

HOUGHTON — The area’s short middle school volleyball season will come to an end this week. Local coaches have noted that it’s been a good month-long introduction to the sport for seventh and eighth grade girls.

At Houghton Middle School alone, there have been around 25 seventh graders and another 25 eighth graders ready to learn the game of volleyball. Along with a handful of practices the girls will play a few games against other schools.

“It is so exciting to see this many girls out here eager to learn how to play,” said Blaire Zenner, head coach of Houghton’s high school varsity program and coach of the eighth graders during this middle school season. “We do not have a lot of extra (volleyball) opportunities for us locally before seventh and eighth grade, so this is a great start that will hopefully translate into some good players coming into our high school program.”

Lake Linden-Hubbell High School varsity volleyball coach Ellen Jarvis echoed a similar sentiment.

“This might the first time that these girls have touched a volleyball,” she said. “So we are working on the basics – getting fundamentals down. A big thing at this level is learning how to serve. Teamwork is a huge thing. They are learning how to call the ball and be in ready position to receive a serve.”

After a tournament last week in Calumet, Jarvis related that she was impressed with the Lakes’ newest and youngest players.

“There are quite a few talented girls on the team, and that will help us as they come on as freshmen,” she noted.

Houghton’s junior varsity volleyball coach Anna Bradfish has been working with the seventh-grade girls and has had nothing but positive things to say about her group. Her major complaint is that the season isn’t long enough.

“I don’t know why the state of Michigan or our region won’t make this an official school-sanctioned sport,” she said. “We have 50 girls out here who want to learn volleyball. Let’s make it official with a legitimate season. One month doesn’t give these girls justice. They deserve more.”

Until that change comes, there is one thing for certain for Bradfish. She is having fun teaching the sport she grew up playing.

“These seventh graders are an enjoyable group of girls to work with,” she said. “They are fun to watch and have grown a lot in just the little time we’ve had together.”