Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Jeffers’ Montanna Heinonen (6) and Taylor Heinonen (3) guard the back row on Thursday in a match against Hancock in Hancock.

HANCOCK- Consistency was the name of the game for the Hancock Bulldogs’ volleyball team on Thursday as they shut out the visiting Jeffers Jets 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-16).

They stayed the course and forced the Jets to play catch up, and much to the delight of Hancock coach Brian Lampaa the Jets never did.

“We competed really well,” he said. “We put the pressure on them, and there were no lulls really during the whole match.”

It started in the opening set as the Bulldogs’ Alice Larson pushed Hancock out to a 5-1 lead. Jeffers, however, did come back to tie this one at 10 and 13. The Jets even took a brief 16-14 lead. It was knotted again at 19, and the race to 25 was on.

With Hancock’s Lynn Driscoll serving, the Bulldogs moved to 24-20 and an eventual 25-20 win.

The second set started the same with the Bulldogs simply outmaneuvering their opponents. An 8-4 lead morphed into a 13-5 Hancock lead.

“Our serve and serve-receive was working really well,” Lampaa added. “We kept them off balance simply by putting the ball in play. We did not give them a lot of points, and that is something we have been working on.”

The second set ended at 25-16.

The Jets’ best start of the evening was the third set. They opened with a 5-1 lead but could not sustain it. The Bulldogs tied it at five with Emily L’Esperance leading the charge from the service line. She was followed by Brooke Koskela who moved the Bulldogs out to a 13-9 lead, and they never looked back. This one ended 25-16.

“Again, we did not give them a lot of easy points and made Jeffers work hard for every point they earned,” noted Lampaa.

He added,” Game ball goes to Mallory Sporalski. She brought energy when we needed it and made the plays that we needed. It was one of the best games I have seen her play.”

Jeffers coach Rachel Sondergrath was disappointed to say the least in her girls’ performance. In short, she related that it was not a good night for Jets’ volleyball.

“We were flat and timid and not aggressive, and Hancock was,” she said. “They saw that in us and took advantage of it.”

UP NEXT

The Bulldogs will be in Gladstone today for the Rock Invitational. The Jets will welcome the Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Blue Bolts on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.