Despite fielding a young team that is still trying to find some consistency, the Spartans pulled off a 25-22, 25-18, 25-21 sweep of Tawas Area to earn an early advantage atop the North East Michigan Conference standings. And considering they've won the last 22 consecutive league titles, it's fair to call them the favorites until someone proves otherwise.

“I've been saying that rally scoring really evens things up,” Pinny coach Marion LaFave said. “At times we didn't serve well tonight, but I felt like we kept our composure well when we got behind. We really didn't let them get any 6-8 point runs off.”

Tawas coach Shanda Vartanian saw flashes of a Braves team she thought was capable of beating the Spartans, but not enough of it to actually do so.

“If we played like we did the first 7-9 points of the game, I think we could beat them,” she said. “But then we started putting serves in the net and not getting our passes up. It's just getting the fundamentals down, the little things. You can have the greatest hitters in the world, but if you can't pass the ball and get it to them, it won't matter.”

The Braves actually built a 10-5 lead in the first game as they were able to successfully feed their imposing front line combination of Alyse Schirmer and Kathryn Jacques. Pinny started its comeback on Alysa Rugenstein's ace, finally taking a 14-13 lead on consecutive Katie Fowler aces. The fact that Tawas hadn't played in a week and the Spartans hadn't seen competition for 10 days began to show as play turned ragged for the latter half of the first game. Alyssa Gruszynski's kill made it 23-19, and though Jacques and Katie Conn each scored for the Braves, the Spartans scored their final two points on Tawas serves that went into the net.

The Spartans held a narrow lead through most of the second game, but scored the last seven points behind Fowler's serving. Fowler recorded an ace, and Gruszynski and Ashley Schwerin each had kills in the run.

The Braves bounced back from a 9-5 deficit in the third game to take a 16-14 lead, but Fowler, Schwerin and Gruszynski took control of the net as the Spartans scored 11 of the final 16 points to wrap up the match.

LaFave said the Gruszynski, just a sophomore, was having to adjust to a recent move to the outside after starting the season in the middle.

“She's just learning,” LaFave said. “Right now about 92 percent of our sets went in her direction, and we're going to have to change that up a bit. She hasn't played that position very much, and we're asking an awful lot of her.”

The youth of her squad also has been a factor in their play, especially when facing new situations.

“This was our first league game (last week's contest at Ogemaw Heights was postponed by snow), and the first three-out-of-five match we've played,” she said. “They were a little nervous at the start, but the team settled down.

“I also think we're a little out of shape. I asked the girls, what if we had gone five games? If we're physically strong, the mental part of the game will come along. But if we're physically weak, then we will be mentally weak too.”

Vartanian hopes the Braves will be sharper the when the squads meet again at the NEMC finals and, potentially, at the district tournament.

“We want the conference,” she said. “Pinconning's a solid team, but neither of our teams are as strong as we were last year. And this was really the first time we've been tested other than at Frankenmuth (in a December tournament). If we get our fundamentals down, we should be fine. It's just going to take a little bit.”

Pinny improved to 15-18 (1-0 NEMC), with the Braves dropping to 9-6-1 (1-1).