VIRGINIA — The wait is over. After 13 years and a thrilling 3-1 victory over Floodwood in the Section 7A tournament championship on Saturday, the North Woods Grizzlies are finally headed back to the Class A state volleyball tournament in St. Paul.
The Grizzlies’ path to the championship match began with an easy win in the first round against Littlefork-Big Falls, 3-0, then continued with an emotional rivalry win over Ely, 3-1. South Ridge awaited the Grizzlies in the Oct. 29 semifinal at Rock Ridge, and North Woods scored its second victory of the season over the top-seeded Panthers, 3-1. On the other side of the bracket, Floodwood upset No. 1 seed Chisholm, 3-2, in that semi to set up the final between the two No. 2 seeds.
There was little question the match would be a torrid one, with the Polar Bears sporting a record of 27-4 and North Woods coming in at 23-3, with less than two points separating the pair in the Class A Quality Ratings Formula.
The Rock Ridge bleachers were packed full of raucous fans as Floodwood opened fast in the first set, jumping ahead 3-0 on a pair of kills by Logan Hart and Kenzie Kiminski and an early ace from Sadie Kiminski that extended the lead to four. North Woods answered with kills and an ace from Brittin Lappi, and Lauren Burnett traded points with Hart to close the gap to 9-8. An Izzy Pascuzzi dunk and a pair of Tessa Burnett aces capped a six-point run that put the Grizzlies up 14-10 and forced a Floodwood timeout. When Kiminski rotated back to the front row, she kept the Polar Bears close, but another Lauren Burnett kill at 17-17 swung momentum North Woods’ way. With the Grizzlies’ Brynn Chosa at serve, the Grizzlies launched a 7-1 blitz to take a 24-18 lead and won the set when a Floodwood kill sailed long.
The second set was tight throughout. Floodwood’s attack again ran through Kiminski, while Pascuzzi found her rhythm for North Woods with several kills and an ace to keep pace. Late errors from the Grizzlies opened the door for the Polar Bears, and they took advantage with a Hart kill and a Janeah Lane ace to pull out the set 25-23, evening the match.
North Woods regrouped and controlled the third. With Tessa Burnett serving, the Grizzlies jumped to a 5-0 lead before Floodwood rallied to even things at eight. Pascuzzi, Lauren Burnett, and Lappi then fueled another run. With the score 12-12, the Grizzlies ripped off five straight points with Carsyn Burnett scorching an ace for a 17-12 edge. Floodwood never got closer than four after that, and North Woods took control of the match again with a convincing 25-16 win.
It looked like the momentum was tilting back to Floodwood in the fourth set. After trailing early 8-5, the Polar Bears strung together five straight points and then turned a 12-12 tie into a 19-13 advantage. But the Grizzlies dug in once more. A Burnett kill, a Lappi ace, and a block from Ella Kruse cut the margin to three, and more kills from Lauren Burnett plus a Floodwood error trimmed it to one at 20-19. An ace by Maizie Arro and a Hart kill pushed Floodwood back up 23-19, but North Woods refused to fold. A kill from Burnett, two from Pascuzzi, and a Carsyn Burnett block tied it 23-23.
From there, both teams traded haymakers. Kiminski and Hart delivered for Floodwood, while Pascuzzi staved off a Polar Bears set point at 26-25 with a kill. Tied at 27, Lauren Burnett provided the firepower the Grizzlies needed, delivering back-to-back kills that sealed a 29-27 set win and a 3-1 match victory.
North Woods fans quickly rushed the floor as the team collapsed in a jubilant heap of screams and hugs celebrating the biggest win of their careers.
Twenty minutes after the match, Grizzlies Head Coach Kaileen Redmond’s eyes were still filled with tears of joy.
“I have never seen more teamwork out of this team than I did tonight,” Redmond said. “It was now or never, and my girls knew that. They went out with everything that they had and they were not playing scared. They played as a whole. Not one single player out there played for themselves individually, and this whole win was 100 percent them.”
Redmond had wanted to square off against Floodwood rather than Chisholm because of the Bluestreaks’ unpredictability. The Polar Bears leaned into setting the offense up for Kiminski, giving Redmond a clear vision for a path to victory that the Grizzlies executed almost to perfection – score when Kiminski was in the back row, and send targeted serves to weaker passers.
“Capitalizing when she was in the back row was the best thing that we could do,” Redmond said. “We really racked up our points in those times and then just picked on their weaker passers. You get them a couple of times on an ace serve and you’re in their heads. We just kept pushing and pushing and pushing until the point that we had that little bit of a lead here and there and it paid off. The girls truly trusted me and I trusted everything that they were doing, and it was an amazing day.”
Tom Burnett thought so, too. He was the last coach to take North Woods to state in 2012, and any bias that may come from having three daughters in the starting rotation can be excused.
“These girls played awesome, and the coaching staff did awesome,” Burnett said. “It’s great to see them do it. It was a battle and they had a lot of ups and downs, but what I liked is that we didn’t back off at the end, we didn’t play scared. We kept playing aggressive and we won. It was fun to see.”
And in an area where volleyball DNA runs deep with Cook High School having made 11 trips to state and winning the whole shebang in 1989, Izzy Pascuzzi’s roots run even deeper. Her grandmother, Diane Pascuzzi, and friend Patti Olson were there to share in the excitement. Both were on the very first CHS team in 1975, and Pascuzzi was the most valuable player, they said.
“I only missed one game this year, and I’m going to go to all her games next year (at St. Scholatica),” Pascuzzi said. “Izzy got a lot of great saves today. She did really, really well. She’s my MVP.”
Pascuzzi had 15 kills in the match, and Brittin Lappi continued her late-season scoring surge with 10. Lauren Burnett had the arm that really brought the heat with 29 kills. Carsyn Burnett and Chosa set them up with 24 assists each. Tessa Burnett turned in team-leading numbers in aces, with seven, and digs, with eight.
After a morning pep rally at the school and a tour through Cook, the Grizzlies headed to St. Paul on Tuesday to prep for their first-round matchup against top-seeded Mayer Lutheran on Thursday. The Crusaders are ranked No. 1 in Class A by the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association and have a record of 24-7, with wins over Class AAAA Chaska, Andover, St. Michael-Albertville, Edina, Eastview, and Shakopee in a schedule with 19 opponents from higher classifications. In comparison, the Grizzlies played eight matches against AA schools, winning seven. It’s a brutal draw for the Grizzlies, but if they lose, they’re assured of at least one more match in Friday’s consolation bracket. If they pull off what would be a major upset, they would take on the winner of the Cleveland and Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa matchup on Friday.