Ironwood beats Jeffers after two earlier losses

By JASON JUNO

sports@yourdailyglobe.com

PAINESDALE — Ironwood had only won a single set in its two regular-season meetings with Jeffers.

But in the Jets’ home gym, with a berth in the district final on the line, the Red Devils came up with their biggest victory of the season.

The Red Devils won 25-23, 23-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-11 in an exciting MHSAA Division 3 District 65 semifinal last week.

“We were the underdog tonight,” Ironwood coach Lisa Fechter said. “They beat us twice. They were at least in the (U.P.) rankings sometimes in that Division 3, we never saw that. And we take them down, that was fun.”

Ironwood went on to lose to the No. 1 team in the U.P., perennial powerhouse Calumet, in the district final to finish the season at 27-18-2. But getting there with a strong win Wednesday took some of the sting out of that defeat.

“Winning that game on Wednesday night was a big game and a lot of fun,” Fechter said. “That’s what I told them in the locker room (Friday) — that was a fun game to win, a fun game to coach on Wednesday.

“And it made this season special to win that one.”

It was a great match against a very good Jeffers team.

The Devils won the first set without getting a single kill from their top hitter, Audra Pawlak.

“We said we won that first set with our big hitting not doing that much,” Fechter said. “Everybody else rallied around her and did what they needed to do and then she came through. She executed and did her job, she had big blocks, she had hits.”

Pawlak ended with 18 kills, nine digs and five blocks on the night. Pawlak and Bree Delich provided much of the offensive power —Delich had a team-best 19 kills.

“I think Bree hit well, too,” Fechter said. “We’ve been preaching to Bree that we have to get attacks, that we can’t just push the ball over or tip, we have to take swings. Against a team like this, if you give them a free ball or a tip, they’re just going to attack right back at you.”

Jeffers won two very close matches to follow. Ironwood responded with a fourth set win, 25-21, to set up a fifth set with the season on the line.

An ace by Hanna Vaughn made it 14-11 Ironwood. Jeffers handled another tough serve by Vaughn, but the attack went out of bounds and Ironwood came away with the win.

Vaughn finished with 49 digs. Olivia Vandenburg didn’t miss a serve and she had three aces. Maleah Maki had 19 digs. Breleigh Lahti finished with nine kills, Emma Worden four and Jada Godfrey three. Kiaya Graser recorded 47 assists.

“Hanna, nothing was getting past her, corner, stuff up short, she was just picking everything up,” Fechter said.

“Their big hitter (Mia Nordstrom) likes to hit down the line and we took that away from her, we got a few digs down the line and she wasn’t able to go there anymore.

“And then we blocked her a few times, Audra got some touches on her attacks, got her out of her game a little bit. She was still swinging, up there hitting hard, but we were executing like I knew we could.”

Maki played well with tip coverage on the front row, Fechter said. Jada Godfrey made some big plays and Worden also came through.

“Team effort,” Fechter said.