It was a game originally scheduled to take place in Newberry. However, since Newberry’s gymnasium is still under renovation, Munising got to host the Lady Indians on Tuesday, September 3. And they gave their hometown fans quite the treat; a thrilling five set victory, 25-27, 16-25, 25-19, 25-23 and 15-13.

“Exciting match overall for the fans, maybe not so much for the coaches,” head coach Josh Cole said. “All jokes aside, it’s always a good night when you come out with a win at home. Newberry played well, especially in the beginning of the match. Newberry has been a really good program the last two years now.”

In the first set, Newberry and Munising were locked in a close battle. Tied 9-9 early on and it remained close throughout, including a 25-25 tie. The Indians got the final two points to claim the opening frame though.

“I thought we had a slower start again,” Cole said. “We had some pieces that were sharp, but overall sort of a sluggish first set. I thought we had the opportunity to take that first set if we could have executed some attacks down the stretch.”

In the second set, the Mustangs fell behind 12-4 and as much as 19-9 late in the set and could never quite get back into it.

Things got going for Munising in the third set. They did trail 139, but rallied to lead 22-18 thanks to steady serving runs by Sage Anderson, Carissa Deatsman and Dayne Behning.

“Our hitters were able to execute down the stretch of that third set and we were able to put it away,” Cole said.

The fourth set was tied 20-20, but Munising was able to once again close it out in their favor.

In the fifth set, the Mustangs took a 9-7 lead, but things were knotted up at 13-all. They were able to pull ahead 14-13 and then Behning sealed the win with an ace.

“A big focus going into the fifth set was to trust our conditioning, we told the girls that we were the better conditioned team and I believe that was the biggest difference,” Cole said. “Super proud of Dayne, she fought through a little lull earlier in the match and really stepped up for us the last two sets. Overall, very proud of these ladies tonight, the team played hard and earned a great win versus a very solid program.”

Addie Bowerman led the team with 18 kills, three blocks and two aces, Elizabeth Wing had six kills, one ace and six digs and Behning finished with five kills, four aces and nine digs. Carissa Deatsman played well at setter too, getting 32 assists, five kills and three aces.

“Our defense settled in toward the end of the first set, and they were locked in the rest of the match,” Cole said. “Olivia Cotey, Kristin Joyner and Tamryn Nolan were stellar for us in serve receive and on defense.”

Munising was scheduled to host Bark River-Harris on Tuesday and will play next on September 18 at Rock Mid-Pen.