Menominee slips past Carney in five sets

The Menominee Maroons ended the regular season in the best way possible on Thursday, beating Carney-Nadeau in five sets while honoring their eight seniors.

Carney-Nadeau came into the match 16-8-2 on the year, including a win over Menominee in tournament play on Sept. 9, but it was the Maroons who looked like the favorite on Thursday.

They won the first set 28-26 before an absolutely dominant second set. 

Menominee started the second on a 9-0 run with Jazmine Jasenovsky serving. The Wolves would never recover in that set, with Menominee winning 25-8.

The first set saw coach Sarah Betzinger play only her seniors, and the juniors and Jasenovsky, a sophomore, brought the energy in the second set after a fun first set.

“Coming off that first one, they felt good, they knew they could do it,” Betzinger said. “When the juniors joined them, that energy level was high and they really wanted that second game, they wanted the match, and they played phenomenWal ball.”

The Wolves would flip the energy and win the next two sets 25-17 and 25-15, but Menominee re-captured its form just in time to win the final set by a 15-12 score.

“They wanted to play five, I guess,” Betzinger said.

Those eight Menominee seniors might have just wanted to soak up every minute playing in front of the home crowd on their senior night before playoffs begin this week.

Jade Jasenovsky, Hanna Drifka, Hailee Malinski, Erin Schuettpelz, Cassie Olson, Emma Erdman, Olivia Poquette, and Miranda Arsineau are all seniors.