The Gremlins’ Meghan Trewhella goes up for the kill as the Bulldogs’ Brielle Kero (10) and Lana Aho (12) attempt to block during a match Thursday in Hancock. The Bulldogs’ Kay Pietila (16) looks on. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

fference a week makes in the world of Hancock Bulldogs volleyball. Seven days ago, the Bulldogs were the victims of a 3-1 Copper Spike loss to the hands of their rivals, the Houghton Gremlins.

The Bulldogs picked themselves up, worked hard in practice and socked it to the Gremlins on Thursday with a 3-1 win of their own.

After the first set, Houghton appeared to be in control with a 25-19 win, but Hancock won the next three sets, 33-31, 25-21 and 25-10.

“We were communicating much better tonight which made our game run a lot smoother,” said Bulldogs coach Heather Haataja. “I liked the girls overall composure. We stayed confident and played calm volleyball the whole game.”

That composure was on display briefly in the first set as the Bulldogs pulled out to a 7-4 lead. But with the Gremlins’ Kaci Dewar on the line, Houghton tied it at seven, eight nine and 11. It then became a race to the finish with the Gremlins winning it with aces by Meghan Trewhella and Jiana Tang.

The story of the second set was the ending. Down 20-15, the Bulldogs posted a run of five under the service of Ella Storm. The two teams were tied again at 22, then at 24 and 25, forcing extra points until the hosts earned a two-point advantage.

“That was exhausting,” said Haataja. “But the girls kept their composure and never gave up.”

The third set just continued that back-to-back scoring in its opening rallies. After being tied at nine, however, the Gremlins pulled out to a 15-10 lead. While Houghton had the momentum, the Bulldogs weren’t going down easy.

Senior Kasia Salani posted a service run of four to make it 17-14, not long after thath, the Bulldogs tied the set at 17. They then took the lead and never looked back.

“That was probably our best set,” Haataja said. “They (Houghton) have a lot of deep servers, and we worked on getting behind the ball and getting the ball up court during the week, and it seemed to work.”

Up two sets to one, the momentum was on the Bulldogs’ side of the court headed into the fourth set, and they had no plans of slowing down.

Sophomore Brooke Koskela led the Bulldogs out to a 7-1 lead. She also led the team in kills with 10. Right behind her was Isabella Hebert with eight kills. Hebert also had eight aces — some of those coming in the fourth set.

At the midway point, it was 14-6, and eventually a victory for Hancock. The Bulldogs had defeated the Gremlins in more ways than one. Head coach of the Gremlins, Blaire Zenner, admitted as much.

“We lost our momentum,” she said. “We let our mistakes dictate the rest of our play. We let the little things get to us, and the girls couldn’t shake that off.”

Up next

The Bulldogs head to Gwinn on Tuesday, Oct. 4, to face the Modeltowners.

Blue Bolts win

The Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Blue Bolts defeated the Chassell Panthers in other volleyball action on Thursday.

The Blue Bolts jumped out to a two-set lead with set wins of 25-20 and 25-12. The Panthers won the third set 25-23, but the Blue Bolts took the fourth set, 25-22.