By LEVI ERKKILA

For the Gazette

CALUMET — The Iron Mountain Mountaineers took a bus to Calumet for a volleyball game against the juggernaut Copper Kings. Early on, it was clear the Mountaineers had their hands full with the Kings. Three sets were all that were required for Calumet to grab the win (25-11; 25-6; 25-14).

“We got some big runs,” said Calumet coach Kate Bonacorsi. “We got some service runs, and that was good. We were scoring with our serve, and offensively, the girls were trying to run a lot of different combinations and different looks at the net, and they were effective.”

Despite the somewhat lopsided game, Iron Mountain coach Jeanne Newberry was pleased with the team’s performance.

“The fact that my team doesn’t give up, and they continue to try and challenge is what I give them credit for,” she said. “We learned tonight that they are motivated and they will not give up. They’re still standing in there and saying, ‘okay, I can get this next ball.'”

Newberry also acknowledged the high level of play put on display by the powerhouse Copper King program.

“Calumet has a quick team,” she said. “They always come with a lot of height, and they run quick sets. They make the game very difficult.”

The Kings are poised to have another great year. In the past four seasons, the girls in Blue and Grey are undefeated and have only lost two sets outside of tournament play.

Calumet’s blockers stifled the Iron Mountain attack throughout the night.

Emily Copley and Aylay Hoffman had a pair of kills for the Mountaineers. Copley had a service ace along with Izzy Lewis.

The heavy-hitting Kings had several players put up solid numbers.

Allison Bjorn, Laina Kariniemi, Madelyn Torola, and Jackie Kiilunen had seven kills each. Isabel Loukus had five aces. Torola scored four times from the service line, which Kariniemi matched.

The Kings jumped all over the Mountaineers. Calumet swung themselves to a 10-1 lead in the blink of an eye. The game settled down, and Iron Mountain started scoring but couldn’t close the gap. When Calumet hit 20 points, the visitors had five. The Kings lost six of the next 11 rallies but took the set.

The Mountaineers took their first lead of the game, 3-2 early in the second set. The home team poured it on and went on an 8-1 run. Calumet followed that up with another run, 5-1. In a flash, the score was 15-5 Copper Kings. Iron Mountain again fell victim to the Calumet momentum, scoring one to the Kings’ 10 to finish out the second.

With a commanding 2-0 lead backed by home-court advantage, Calumet looked good to finish the match in three.

After falling behind 7-2, Iron Mountain continued to battle in the third set. The score was 11-7, then 13-9 before the Kings pulled away. With a 22-11 stranglehold on the game, Calumet cruised to the win.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS

Calumet won the Ashwaubenon tournament for the third straight year on Saturday. They went undefeated, beating Denmark in two sets, 25-21, 25-9, North Fond du Lac, 25-22, 25-10, Green Bay New Lutheran, 25-22, and Antigo, 25-14, 25-22.

Bjorn led the way with 25 kills, 11 aces and 34 digs. Kiilunen added 17 kills and 21 digs. Torola had 25 kills. Kariniemi racked up 85 assists, four kills and eight digs.

UP NEXT

The Copper Kings will travel to Marquette for their next regular season game on Tuesday.

Iron Mountain will visit Manistique on Thursday.