Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette The Houghton Gremlins celebrate a point well earned in their volleyball matchup against Marquette on Tuesday at the Houghton High School gym.

HOUGHTON – Tuesday night’s regular-season matchup between the Houghton Gremlins and the Marquette Redettes had all the excitement of a post-season game. It was back-and-forth from the start with plenty of lead changes that went to five sets and then some. In the end, the Gremlins stayed the course and won 25-20, 23-25, 18-25, 28-26 and 16-14.

“We played through adversity today,” said Gremlins’ coach Blaire Zenner. “We had two players go down but found a way to make this one work.”

The Gremlins lost Sophie Hebert in the first set and Laney Johnson in the fourth due to injury.

The first set was indicative of all five sets in the fact that it saw ties at nine, 10, 11 and 18. In the race to 25, the Gremlins won 25-20.

The second and third sets belonged to Marquette but not by much. In the second, the Redettes led by as much as five and as little as one. Despite the Gremlins ability tie this one at 21 and 22 , they could never take a lead and lost 23-25.

That winning momentum carried Marquette to another five-point lead in the third, and they just kept going. With Cece Fuller on the line serving, the Redettes posted a 15-9 lead in route to a 25-18 victory.

“In the middle of the game we settled in and really played our game,” said Marquette’s coach Ann Crandell-Williams.

With their backs against the wall, the Gremlins picked up their pace and took the fourth and fifth sets with a lot of grit.

“We found ways to score,” said Zenner and, “we covered the floor well.”

The Gremlins’ Clea Ollanketo was covering the floor quite literally as the libero diving for balls left and right. She had an impressive 36 digs on the night.

“Clea had a great game as did Danica Ryynanen up front on the net with some big blocks,” said Zenner.

Other team leaders were Sophia Neves with 13 kills. Bynn Arko followed with 12 and Eva Gerard had 11 kills.

Even the opposing coach admitted at the stellar defense that the Gremlins played.

She said, “They covered the floor exceptionally well. We struggled to get anything by them.”

The fourth set was tied more than eight times. While the Gremlins led 21-18, the Redettes tied it at 23. The Gremlins persevered and won it 28-26 and forced a fifth set.

The race to 15 in this final set was again a back-and-forth contest. At 12-10 the Gremlins had their biggest lead of the set. Despite being tied at 14, the Gremlins were able to go ahead by two and win match point at 16-14.

“We played well, but I think the pressure gets to our girls, noted Crandell-Williams. “We have a lot of first-year varsity players and they tend to tighten up as the game gets tense. My hope is that the mistakes we made today won’t happen later in the season.”

UP NEXT

The Gremlins will travel to Ishpeming to face the Hematites on Tuesday, Sept. 26.