SAULT STE. MARIE - A good season came to a quick end here Monday as the Gladstone Braves dropped their Class B district volleyball opener.

Sault Ste. Marie posted a 3-0 victory and will advance to Friday's championship. Escanaba hosts Kingsford Wednesday and the winner will host the title match.

Sault won 25-14, 25-20, 25-13 and Gladstone coach Liz Gendron said "our serving really hurt us in the first two sets. We had way too many unforced errors and when you play a solid team like the Sault you can't afford to be that generous."

Gendron said the Braves never ran off more than two points in the first set and a four-point rally was their best in set two.

In the opener, Sault ran off eight straight points for a 16-6 lead and used a seven-point burst in the second set.

"The third set we made some very poor choices in our offense just wasn't able to put the ball down," Gendron said.

She said the teams matched up well, noting several long rallies in the first two sets.

"I thought we played very strong at the net defensively against their strong outside hitter, Katie Fitzpatrick, and against their middle hitter," Gendron said.

She said the Braves forced Sault into tipping and roll shots as planned but "our back line defense just wasn't reading them to pick the shot up."

Gendron said Ann Reese had her best match of the season with six kills, two assists and seven digs.

Rachel Mayo had 21 assists and teamed with Ashlee Anderson for some quick hits in the middle that Anderson spiked. "If our passing was solid we would have been able to utilize her more," she said.

Sammi Eagle had four blocks and two kills.