Suttons Bay is moving on and Glen Lake is done for the season following opening round play in the Class C volleyball district playoff at Glen Lake Tuesday night.

SUTTONS BAY players congratulate their St. Francis
counterparts Tuesday night following a District victory
over the Gladiators. Pictured for the Norse are Charlotte
Stowe (2), Anna Pryor and Fran Belanger.

Glen Lake lost to a talented Charlevoix team 25-12, 25-11, 25-14. While the Lakers never looked out of any of the games, Charlevoix dominated the front row, limiting Glen Lake to 12 kills for the entire match.

“Charlevoix is a tough team. They have the height and athleticism to go a long way. I thought we did pretty well against them, we just couldn’t get any offense going,” said Lakers coach Sue Flowers.

At times during the second and third game, Glen Lake came within four points of Charlevoix but could get no further.

For the night, junior Dani Frost had 6 kills, 5 digs, 1 block, 1 ace to lead Glen Lake. Seniors Heather Flowers, Leaha Carey and Rachelle Brzezinski also had good nights. Flowers had 11 assists, 2 digs, and served 7-for-7; Cary had 2 kills, 13 digs, and 7-for-7 serving; and Brzezinski had 4 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace.

The Lakers wrapped up the season with a 3-34-4 overall record.

In the second match of the night, Suttons Bay faced an energized St. Francis team. The Gladiators started fast by winning the first game, 25-20. The Norse, however, responded to the challenge by winning the next three games and the match,  25-16, 25-11, 25-17.

Suttons Bay advanced in the tournament and will play Mancelona  Saturday in the second match of the day

Suttons Bay coach Mike Kelly said in the first game, the Glads played as well as any team has all season against the Norse.

“St. Francis really stepped up. They knew they would have to play their best to beat us and they went far beyond just playing their best. They really challenged us,” he said. “Those girls blocked and dug against us really well. It’s not that we didn’t play well, we did, but St. Francis played much better,” Kelly said.

DANI FROST of Glen Lake goes high to
return a shot against Charlevoix Tuesday
night in Suttons Bay. Charlevoix ended the
Lakers' season in the District matchup.

While the Gladiators were elated at the first game win, the Norsemen did not lose their cool. There were smiles aplenty from the Suttons Bay players and a sense that they were in a battle.

“I wasn’t surprised at how well St. Francis played in that first game,” said senior captain Charlotte Stowe. “This is the Districts, everyone comes out strong because they know its one and done. We didn’t come out mentally prepared in the first game and they did. But, then we decided we weren’t going to lose anymore games,” she said.

The second game started with teams swapping leads. The Gladiators didn’t go away and had a 14-11 lead. But that was a close as the Norse would allow St. Francis to get the rest of the way.

Stowe said she was confident Suttons Bay would win the match. “You need to win three games, not one, to win the match,” she said.

“I knew we were in good shape. The girls stayed patient, played smart and stayed with it. They never loss their confidence. I was very happy with their attitude,” Coach Kelly added.

With the win the Norse are 48-8-4 overall. Stowe had 9 kills, 13 digs, and 2 aces to lead the Bay. Maggie Walters had 19 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs, 2 aces; Anna Pryor had 36 assists, 2 aces, 2 kills, 1 block, 11 digs; Crystal Dittrich had 1 ace, 9 digs; Fran Belanger had 6 kills, 11 digs; Arianna Guillen had 7 digs; Hilde Forton had 1 ace; Emily Seeley had 2 digs; Cheyenne Petoskey had 3 digs; Emily Send had 4 digs; and Lena Knoll had 4 kills, 4 blocks, 3 digs.

The Class D District at Leland begins Saturday with the host Comets taking on a newcomer, Grand Traverse Academy, at 9 a.m. Northport takes on Cherryland Conference rival Traverse City Christian at 10 a.m. The Leelanau School awaits the Leland-G-T Academy winner around 11 a.m., with the championship match taking place around 12:30 p.m.

Leland is 25-25-8 overall, while Northport has seven wins on the season.