HS Volleyball Regionals Begin Tonight – Tuesday Sports Wrap

High School

In high school volleyball tournament regional semifinal play tonight…
• In Division Three, Calumet faces Negaunee at Westwood. Manistique and Charlevoix meet in the other semifinal at Manistique.
• In Division Four, Chassell has a semifinal bye. Their opponent would have been one of the schools from Ontonagon or Gogebic Counties that have been on a COVID-19 suspension. The Panthers will face either Carney-Nadeau or Mid-Peninsula in Thursday’s regional championship. Our coverage will begin at 6:40 on KBear 102.3.

Ward Helakoski has been named the new head coach of the girls varsity basketball program at Hancock High School. Helakoski is a Copper Country native, who played at White Pine High School. His resume includes teaching and coaching stops at Forest Park, Bloomingdale, and Mattawan, where his Wildcats boys team completed an undefeated regular season two years ago. He retired from teaching and coaching at the end of that season. He also coached the women’s team at the Community College of Allegheny for two seasons back in the ’80s.

WCHA

Northern Michigan University has been picked to finish fourth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this year, and Michigan Tech has been tabbed for fifth place. Minnesota State was the unanimous pick to repeat as the regular-season league champion in the media poll released yesterday. Bemidji State finished second, with Bowling Green third. Lake Superior State was projected for a sixth-place finish.

Michigan Tech freshman Carson Bantle was selected as the Preseason Rookie of the Year, just out-pointing Minnesota State’s Akito Hirose.

Minnesota State goaltender Dryden McKay was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year. Northern Michigan’s Griffin Loughran was second, and was named to the preseason all-conference team.

MLB

Brewers reliever Devin Williams has been named the National League Rookie of the Year. Williams is the first pitcher ever to win the award without making a start or recording a save. He was 4-1 with a 0.33 ERA, and struck out 53 batters in just 27 innings.

Mariners center fielder Kyle Lewis won the American League Rookie of the Year honor.

NFL

The Lions have placed cornerback and special teams standout Tony McRae on injured reserve. McRae suffered a season-ending knee injury in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings.

In last night’s NFL game, Nick Folk’s 51-yard field goal with three seconds remaining lifted the Patriots to a 30-27 come-from-behind victory over the Jets.

If you played The Wolf Pro Football Challenge, you must have selected at least 11 games correctly to be eligible to be our weekly winner.

Our high school football playoff coverage continues Friday, as Calumet hosts Negaunee for the Division Six district title. The pregame show will begin at 6:40 on KBear 102.3.

Email sports news and scores to kreport@up.net.