Mackinaw City, NMCA advance to MHSAA district volleyball finals

MACKINAW CITY — Mackinaw City will play for an MHSAA Division 4 district volleyball title .

Taking on Mackinac Island in a district semifinal , the Comets booked their ticket to a championship clash at St. Ignace by capturing a 3-0 victory (25-12, 25-11, 25-16) over the Lakers in Mackinaw City on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

After starting slow and trailing 7-1 in the first set, the Comets (13-22-5) regrouped, battled back and took a one-set lead in the match. From there, they were in cruise control behind quality offensive and defensive play.

"Once we were able to get ourselves settled, we played some very solid volleyball tonight and did a great job of getting into our system offensively, and our defense did a great job of digging balls and keeping balls alive to give ourselves a shot at winning some long volleys," Mackinaw City coach Jake Huffman said.

Rian Esper's 10 kills, six aces and six digs fueled the Comets, who received 16 assists, seven digs, two kills and seven digs from Julia Short, and 11 digs, six assists, four kills and three aces from Emily Kruczynski. Mackinaw City's many other contributors included Alaia Mendez (eight kills, five aces, four digs), Poppy Wallace (five kills, two digs, one block), Ella Kruczynski (six aces, five digs, one assist), and Sarah Lentell (two kills, one dig).

"I was very happy with our response and proud of the effort that ladies put forth tonight," Huffman said. "We will use (Wednesday) to prep for a very tough St. Ignace squad on Thursday."

Thursday's district final at St. Ignace (10-11-7) is a 6 p.m. start.

Eagles beat Alanson, will meet Harbor Light for title

HARBOR SPRINGS — Get ready for a Northern Lakes Conference showdown for the district title on Thursday.

Opening its postseason in style was the Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian Academy volleyball team, which earned a 3-0 victory over Alanson (25-17, 25-10, 25-15) in an MHSAA Division 4 semifinal at Harbor Light on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The Eagles (23-6-2) were led by Shanna Ferraiuolo, who finished with 21 kills and four digs, while Lauren Ferraiuolo tallied 18 kills, three aces and three digs, and Hazel Bowman added 38 assists and three aces. Isabel Hoffmeyer chipped in with 12 digs.

"Always nice to get a postseason win," NMCA coach Josh Ferraiuolo said. "We were a little rusty after being off for more than a week, but overall, we played pretty well. Looking forward to a very competitive final on Thursday."

NMCA faces Harbor Light (16-6-6) in a 6 p.m. final on Thursday, Nov. 5, at Harbor Light. Harbor Light defeated Pellston 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-7) in a semifinal on Tuesday.

Inland Lakes falls to Harbor Springs in 3

CHARLEVOIX — The Inland Lakes volleyball team's season ended following a 3-0 loss to Harbor Springs (22-25, 23-25, 24-26) in an MHSAA Division 3 district first-round match in Charlevoix on Monday, Nov. 2.

"The girls battled hard all night, we had great contributions from every player on the team. Unfortunately, we just struggled putting the ball away in those high-pressure situations, and Harbor capitalized on that," Inland Lakes coach Shaylee Michael said.

Ava Belford finished with 11 kills, six digs and one ace to lead the Bulldogs (10-21-4), while Adisyn Fenstermaker tallied 11 digs, three kills and two aces, Mariah King had 22 assists, 10 digs, four kills and one ace, Emmalynn Connelly added seven kills, one ace and one block, and Khali Woollard collected 12 digs and one ace.

"This team has made immense progress from the beginning of the season to now, and I am very proud of the work they have put in," Michael said.

Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com . Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT