L’Anse’s Lola Cichosz, left, celebrates a point during an MHSAA Division 4 district tournament volleyball match played against Chassell at the Ed Helakoski Gym in Chassell on Monday. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo by David Archambeau)

CHASSELL — L’Anse opened the MSHAA Division 4 volleyball postseason with a three-set win at Chassell on Monday, 25-18, 25-16, 25-23, at the Ed Helakoski Gym in Chassell.

With the win, the Purple Hornets move on to the district tournament semifinals at 6 p.m. today at Hancock.

“This was a team win,” L’Anse coach Brooklyn Fish said. “The girls worked well together. Communication was key.”

She added that L’Anse’s team effort started in the first set. With Brooklyn Dompier at the service line, the Hornets pushed out to a 7-1 lead.

While the Panthers were able to get within two points at 18-16 with Ellie Kuntze on the service line, it would not be enough to catch up all the way. The Purple Hornets won the race to 25 with Mylee Londo on the line keeping the Panthers at 18.

Despite brief 3-2 and 5-3 leads to start the second set, the Chassell girls couldn’t build a bigger lead. After it was knotted 5-5, the Purple Hornets took a commanding 16-9 lead.

L’Anse played strong defense and stayed one step ahead. Londo was again on the line for the winning serve, putting the Purple Hornets ahead two sets to none.

“I liked our defense,” Fish said. “We did a lot better at blocking the ball, and the energy was there.”

The third set looked a lot like the first. With Haley Dosmann at the line for L’Anse, the Purple Hornets jumped out to a 7-2 lead. That morphed into a 17-7 advantage as it looked like the Purple Hornets were going to cruise to an easy win.

However, the Panthers wouldn’t give up. With Kuntze again serving, Chassell came back to tie it 18-18. They even took a brief lead at 20-18.

That momentum, though, was short-lived. After the Purple Hornets tied it 20-20 they finished off their straight-sets victory.