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ISHPEMING -- Hancock and Crystal Falls Forest Park have been ranked first and second in the U.P. Division 4 volleyball poll all season.
They both dominated the other D4 competition they went up against in this peninsula all year and neither dropped even a set in the postseason on their way to a third straight meeting in a MHSAA Division 4 regional final.
The Bulldogs won their second regional trophy in those three years with a 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 sweep of the Trojans Thursday night. Hancock won the first matchup in 2024 with Forest Park winning last year and the Bulldogs prevailing this time as the favorite after being ranked first in the U.P. all year.
"Obviously Crystal Falls is a heck of a team and we're starting to develop a little rivalry here," Hancock coach Brian Lamppa said. "It means a lot. We're trying to build a program here in Hancock and get some respect that some of these schools have.
"We played really well."
The Bulldogs haven't lost to a Division 4 team all season and they kept it rolling for another postseason trophy.
"Oh my gosh, it was so fun and our girls did so good," senior middle hitter Bria Koski said. "We came in just so confident, and I think that's what separated us from the other girls is we just came in so confident and steady. We played so steady on them."
Hancock was forced to take a timeout in each of the three sets against the Trojans, one of those traditionally strong programs Lamppa was talking about. But they responded well each time.
The Trojans led 16-15 in the first set with Hancock charging ahead for a 25-21 win. Azura Aho's thunderous kill gave the Bulldogs their final point.
Forest Park took an early 8-6 lead in the next set. It was still close later on at 17-13, but Hancock gave up just two points the rest of the way for a 25-15 win. Aho again capped the set with a big kill.
Hancock trailed much of the final set. It fell behind 10-4 and 16-11 before tying it up at 16. Forest Park took the lead back at 20-19 and were in position to win a game, but Hancock scored the final six points to close it out.
The Bulldogs always seemed to respond to a deficit and a timeout.
"It's just about getting focused," Lamppa said. "Volleyball is such a focus, mental game where every point's scored whether you make a mistake or score a point. Then once you lose your focus, it's hard to get it back and you really can't allow a team to get up by four or five points, it just becomes so hard to come back.
"I'm really proud of the way we fought back in that third set for being down by so much against a really good team."
Hancock serves well and they have strong hitters.
"We did a really good job of putting pressure on our opponents in the servicing game and then we have some nice hitters that were able to put the ball away," Lamppa said.
That was important in order to keep Josie Anderson from dominating in the middle.
"Crystal Falls is really good in the middle and we had to keep that ball away from her," he said. "The only way you could do it was by serving aggressive and keeping them out of system and we had some really nice play from our outside hitters."
That hitting was hard for Forest Park to deal with.
"They've got hitters all the way around, and as soon as you think you got one moving to the back row, another one's rotating to the front," Forest Park coach Bobbie Jo Anderson said.
Hancock's Romey Koskela, a junior outside hitter, shined as she often does.
"She plays six rotations for us, she's a leader. If she plays well, our team plays well," Lamppa said.
Forest Park's season ended with a 37-5-1 record.
"They're just a strong team," Anderson said. "We knew we had to come in and make zero mistakes and unfortunately that wasn't the case tonight. We knew they were gonna hit hard at us and we were gonna shank some balls. That was something we were OK with, but we needed to capitalize on everything else, and unfortunately we just couldn't do that tonight. They just outplayed us.
"Super proud of our girls, though, I mean they fought. They fought very hard and we were right in every single set."
Up next
Hancock (32-2-1) plays Atlanta (37-1-1) in Tuesday night's quarterfinal at Manistique. The winner advances to the state tournament, which starts Thursday in Battle Creek. Atlanta swept Newberry 25-19, 25-17, 25-15 to win its regional final.
"It's going to be another battle, it's a long drive. We got to get ready to play whoever wins that match and come out play like we did today," said Lamppa, who didn't know the result yet after Hancock's match.
"We wish them the best of luck," Anderson said. "If anyone's gonna represent the U.P., why not have it be the team that beat you?"
Copper Kings also advance
The Calumet Copper Kings won the Division 3 Region 17 title Thursday in Gwinn, 25-19, 25-8, and 25-10, over Traverse City St. Francis.
The Copper Kings improved to 24-12-1 with the win. They advance to face Roscommon (42-9-5) Tuesday in Gaylord.
