BACK ON TRACK: Kamin, Eskymos Beat Negaunee

ESCANABA---The Escanaba Eskymos rebounded from Saturday's disappointing loss to Kingsford by cruising past the Negaunee Miners, 3-0, in volleyball action Tuesday in Escanaba. The scores were 25-16, 25-20, and 25-20.

The Eskymos were led by senior Nicole Kamin, who had a dominanting 17 kills.

"We got to use our entire team today and it was a great showing," Escanaba Coach Adam Lambert said. "It's so fun to watch her. The girls were setting her right where she wanted."

"She has a specific spot where she wants a set, and our setters were there. It just looks like she gets above the net and looks around and says, where do I want to put it today? She just finds an open spot and it hits the floor. And Jalin (Olson) in the back row had a nice game even though she's still hurt. And Anna Smith did a nice job."

The Eskymos bounced back after a disappointing loss in the semifinals of the Gladstone Rock Invitational on Saturday, when Escanaba lost to Kingsford after beating the Flivvers in two previous match-ups.

"We talked about that a lot on Monday," Lambert said. "I didn't beat them up over it because these girls are resilient. They come back. So, we just shifted some things around and we have a long season ahead of us."

Negaunee Coach Sarah MacDonald said her team did not give up.

"I've got a lot of hard-working girls, a great group of just awesome people," MacDonald said. "They're competitive. I'm hoping that they continue to rise to the occassion and keep competing against great teams. Just being aggressive and not backing down."

"I told my blockers that if you're not sweating and you're not dying out there, then you're not doing your job. We always talk about building each other up, and making someone elselook better than yourself, and I think they showed that tonight."

For Escanaba, the win started the busy Homecoming Week at the school. But before the girls have fun this weekend, they have another tough non-conference match coming up on Thursday night against the Manistique Emeralds in Manistique.

"Manistique has a nice team," Lambert said. "Manistique is going to be tough, and we kind of used this game to kind of get everybody in and play hard."

Manistique defeated Gwinn, 3-1, Tuesday night.

GLADSTONE 3, ISHPEMING 2---The Braves and Hematites had a long battle Tuesday night in Gladstone. After Gladstone easily won the first set, 25-12, Ishpeming bounced back to win the second, 25-23. The Braves regained the lead by winning, 25-15, before the Hematites retied the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth set. Gladstone won the fifth and deciding set, 15-12. The Braves will host Marquette next Monday night.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS above to see photos and video highlights, and hear comments from both coaches.