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NASHWAUK— A series of road victories have put the 20-3 Grizzlies in a good position heading into the final week of the Section 7A regular volleyball season. The girls took second place at the …
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NASHWAUK— A series of road victories have put the 20-3 Grizzlies in a good position heading into the final week of the Section 7A regular volleyball season. The girls took second place at the weekend’s Mesabi East Tournament in Aurora and swept the Spartans here on Monday evening.
North Woods opened the tournament in Aurora defeating Floodwood 25-22 and 25-19 before defeating Chisholm 25-21 and 25-10. The team would then go on to defeat Ely for the third time this season 25-18 and 28-26.
The team did not keep stats during their weekend tourney in Aurora but swept each of their opponents before Duluth Marshall found their number in the championship match, winning 16-25, 25-23 and 15-7.
“I think we were starting to get tired,” assistant coach Dee Ann Sandberg said of their final game. “We started out strong and then we let them back in too much and they won.”
The loss would only be a temporary setback for the Grizzlies as they came back for the kill Monday evening in Nashwauk, handily defeating the Spartans in a three-set sweep, 25-12, 25-21, 25-15.
As the post-season approaches, however, Sandberg isn’t letting the team’s regular season success go to their heads and is focusing on what they still need to do in order to improve.
“We need to become more aggressive,” she said. “We need to take control of the game and play our game, not theirs. We seem to get ahead in our games and then let off and let the other teams catch up, like we did in the second game [of the Duluth Marshall match].”
Sandberg noted the team missed only three of their serves Monday evening but the team was still making errors that prolonged the game.
Coley Olson led the team Monday night with 12 kills. Regan Ratai was not far behind with 11 kills as well as five digs and a block. Morgan Burnet racked up 26 set assists and four aces on the evening, while Karlyn Pierce and Taylor Medrich rounded out the team with seven and five kills apiece.
North Woods wraps up the regular season next week, hosting Chisholm on Monday and visiting South Ridge on Tuesday. Both games begin at 7 p.m.