The Munising Mustangs volleyball team defeated the Engadine Eagles 3-1 on Thursday, Aug. 30 in the Munising Middle/High School gymnasium.

“I’m super proud of the girls,” said Munising Head Coach Josh Cole. “How well they’re playing this early in the season, I’m just happy with their hustle, their scramble and how coachable they’ve been this season.”

After winning the first two sets 25- 11, 25-18, Munising saw an increased push from the Eagles. Junior Danielle Gehrke has a long service run for Engadine while senior Allie Loebach had four kills in the third set alone.

Engadine won the third 25-19.

Eagles Head Coach Aubrey Granger said the mental strength of the team should be credited for the set victory.

“Our communication and forgetting our mistakes right away; not letting the negativity hold us down. The third set was better all around with defense, hitting, finding holes on the other side,” Granger said. “I was very happy with the Engadine kept that intensity up to start the fourth set, soaring to a 5-1 lead. But after a timeout by Munising, the Mustangs went on a 17-3 run. They won the fourth and final set 25-11.

“The goal was to start off on serve and start off strong, but going down 5-1 was not the plan. But we wanted to stick to the plan, have good passes and when it clicked, it clicked,” Cole said. “In that big run, it was passing, setting and hitting altogether.”

Granger said that despite the loss, the Eagles had good play on the night.

“There was a lot of back and forth and I wish we would have kept our energy up. I think we could have pushed it to five (sets) if we did that,” she said. “I think we were just in our heads tonight, but Munising is a great team, great blockers. It was a great competition tonight.”

The Mustangs volleyball team will return to Munising on Wednesday, Sept. 13 and face district rival Mid Peninsula. It will be parents night for the Mustangs.