It’s what high school sports are all about.
That’s what both Munising Head Coach Josh Cole and Superior Central Head Coach Kris Bray said after the annual Pink Out game at Munising High School on Thursday, Oct. 12. The packed gymnasium got to see an incredible game where the Mustangs came back to win in five sets over the Cougars 21-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 15-10.
“It seems like every single year it’s a close three sets or it goes to five,” Cole said. “It was a good night of volleyball for everybody, fans included. Both teams played very hard.”
The Cougars and Mustangs set the tone early, as the teams handed the lead back and forth 11 times in the first set. Eleven points rallied for over a minute as the two teams responded well to each other’s gameplans. But eventually the Cougars were able to pull away with a couple service points from Kate McGee to win the first set.
In the second set, an early onslaught of points gave Munising a 12-5 lead, thanks to four kills from four different Mustangs. But late runs, including a seven-point service run by Kylie Stuer to tie the game up at 19 brought the Cougars back into the competition and the second set victory.
According to Bray, communication and excitement were the key aspects of the early success for SC.
“We were talking. We were up. We were excited and that excitement brought them down and we were able to capitalize on that,” she said.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Mustangs got off to another hot start in the third. Service from Elizabeth Wing and Jolie Ake was the catalyst for Munising, as the home team scored 13 times when either of them started the point. This time, the Mustangs were able to shake off another run of aces from Stuer to take set three by five points.
Bailey Corcoran, one of the middle hitters for Munising, also started to take off in the third set. She had two kills and two solo blocks in the set, then continued to make a difference in the fourth with three kills and two blocks.
Cole said the middle hitter was able to get comfortable as Munising started to respond more positively to the Cougars attack.
“High school volleyball is about forcing the other team out of system. I thought they did a great job of forcing us out of what we wanted to do. It was hard to get middle hitters comfortable when out of system or your setter is always on the run,” Cole said. “But we really stepped up the last three sets with more consistent passes so we could feed the middle.”
Munising and Superior Central continued its amazing volleys in the fifth and decisive set, which was won by the Mustangs 15-10. Wing had an ace and Corcoran added two more kills to separate from SC.
With this being the annual Pink Out game, playing in honor or memory of loved ones fighting cancer, Bray said that everyone was more amped up to play. Paired with other aspects of the rivalry, this was the kind of environment that makes sports so thrilling at the local level.
“It was super exciting. Makes for good volleyball. Kids love it, and it was both our homecoming weeks, so it adds to the flavor,” she said. “It’s what high school sports is about. We’ve been doing it for quite a few games and can’t ask for anything more.”
Bray did promise that the Cougars would defend their home court when the Cougars host the Mustangs again on Thursday, Oct. 26. It will be the last game for both teams before Districts the following week.
