Hancock junior Krissa Pietla (19) high fives senior Brooke Koskela after a MHSAA Division 4 state quarterfinal volleyball win over Atlanta on Nov. 19, 2024 at Manistique High School. The Bulldogs swept the Huskies 25-20, 25-19, 25-16. (“The Big Dog” Mitch Vosburg/Daily Press)

MANISTIQUE – Trying to predict how Division 4 volleyball in the U.P. can oftentimes be incredibly tricky.

Throughout the 2024 volleyball season, some people believed that Crystal Falls Forest Park would be the team that makes the trip over the bridge and return to the final four like it did a year before. Some could make a case for St Ignace, Lake Linden-Hubbell or even Ewen-Trout Creek.

But as the dust settled on Tuesday’s state quarterfinal matchup, the answer which U.P. volleyball fans have pondered throughout the season: who’s crossing the bridge to represent the U.P. in Division 4?

The answer to that question is Hancock.

Behind 20 kills from senior Brooke Koskela, two key service runs and two crucial plays from freshman Azura Aho led the Bulldogs to a 25-20, 25-19, 25-16 win over Atlanta to punch their ticket to the state semifinal round.

“We’re playing with confidence,” Koskela said. “I mean, as we get further into the postseason, we just want to make it as far as we can. I think that really helped us.”

After claiming the opening set thanks to eight kills from Koskela, the Bulldogs clinged to a 9-8 lead after five ties and two lead changes. Either team could’ve swiped momentum off a big series.

In this scenario, junior Alice Larson was the player who came in clutch.

After several serving miscues early on thanks in large part to early-match jitters,  Larson stepped back to serve with a one-point lead. She fired an ace. 10-8 Hancock.

Larson fired off three more aces for a 13-8 lead. Then Koskela rattled off three more kills, capping a 7-1 run for a 16-9 advantage.

“We’ve been doing that all year,” Hancock coach Brian Lampaa said. “We’re just waiting for our opportunity to break through, and (Larson) got us that separation that we needed to really put a nail in the coffin.”

The Huskies, already down a set, didn’t roll on their backs asking for a sympathy belly rub. Atlanta pushed back, pulling within one point at 19-18 behind a 9-3 run.

With momentum teetering, the next point was set to be crucial. Any one of Hancock’s 15 players could make a play.

Of all people it proved to be Aho, who spent the regular season bouncing between Hancock’s freshman and junior varsity teams,  coming up with a block for a 20-18 lead. The block was the first point in a 6-1 run which gave Hancock a pivotal 2-0 match lead.

“She’s going to be a very good volleyball player. She is right now,” Koskela said of Aho. “She’s just been a huge asset to our team, coming in, getting points when we need it, just being a rock.”

The Bulldogs led the third stanza 12-10 when Larson returned to the line once again. The Huskies, playing with their season on the line, didn’t give Larson any easy looks, but she rattled off four-straight points, capped by another Koskela kill, to take a 16-10 lead.

The Bulldogs never trailed again. And with a 25-16 lead in hand the ball was set to Aho, who was patiently waiting on the left side of the floor. The freshman staple gunned the ball to the opposite side of the floor barely out of the reach of an outstretched Atlanta defender.

“They played really well tonight, Lampaa said. “We played steady, got a little shaky at times in the serve game. But when it mattered the most at the end of the set we pulled through.”

Now the Bulldogs face Clarkston Everest Collegiate at noon Thursday inside Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.

The only blemish on the Mountaineers’ schedule is a 17-25, 25-20 split with North Branch in the Mt. Morris Invitational. North Branch lost to Detroit Country Day 25-17, 25-20, 18-25, 25-27, 6-15 in Tuesday’s Division 2 state quarterfinal game.

The winner between the Bulldogs and Mountaineers faces the winner of Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart and St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic.

“Semifinals is semifinals, right? There’s no pressure,” Lampaa said. “We’re playing the number one or number two team in the state. We’re just coming out there and having fun. We’re gonna blast and see what we can do.”