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Gladstone Volleyball Has Ups, Downs In Houghton
 HOUGHTON---It was a little bit of good, and a little bit of not-so-good, for the Gladstone High School girls volleyball team on Saturday at the Houghton Invitational. The Braves won two of three matches in pool play, before losing to Hancock as bracket play began. Houghton eventually won the tournament, 2-0, over Calumet. Gladstone opened pool play with a 2-0 win over Gwinn (25-17, 25-17). "That was a nice win over Gwinn," Gladstone Coach Liz Gendron said. "The hitting was great, the setting was spot-on." Lexi Hongisto and Jenna Steinhoff each had seven kills against Gwinn, while Kelsey Fournier had nine digs. Emily Dyk0wski added six defensive digs in the Braves win. Next, the Braves faced the host Houghton Gremilins. And Gladstone was on the short end of this match, 2-0. The scores were 11-25 and 17-25. "It was as a closer game than it appears," Gendron said. "Their middle hitter did the most damege. We needed to side out more. (We were) most improved. The girls have come a long way since August." In that match, Hongisto had ten kills in the two sets, with only three errors. Gladstone then faced Baraga in its final pool play match. The Braves won that match, 2-0, by scores of 25-17, 25-18. That advanced the girls into the bracket play portion. Against Baraga, Emily Dykowski had six kills and Hongisto added five kills in the victory. Fouriner had four service aces from the back row, along with four digs. Lydia Froberg had five digs, while Kenly Milan contributed four digs. The 2-1 record in pool play sent Gladstone into "bracket play" against the Hancock Bulldogs. That result was not as favorable for the Braves, as Hancock won, 2-0. "We had such good pool play action and such heartbreak in bracket play," Gendron said. "We should have finished the first set strong, and continued to the semis, but with just a few mistakes, the mindset vanished," Gendron said. Still, her team's performance at a tough venue like Houghton was encouraging, "Going 2-2 today has been an improvement since the begining, for sure," Gendron said. "If I could only strengthen their mind-set! Lexi (Hongisto) had a great day, Jenna Steinhoff put down some impressive hits, Katie (Belonga) was a strong force offensively and defensively. Harley Farnoff had a great day being our serving specialist." Gladst0ne's Dykowski had seven kills and Hongisto added four hits in the loss to Hancock in bracket play. Hongisto had eight digs, while Fournier and Maddie Bailey each had five digs in the match against Hancock. Gladstone returns to action Tuesday night with a home match against Marquette. |
