FIELD TWP- The North Woods volleyball team tuned up Tuesday for the upcoming sectional tournament by polishing off the Fond du Lac Ojibwe 3-0 in their regular season finale at North Woods.
With Fond du Lac coming in with a 1-19 record and winless in the month of October, this match was more about the 17-5 Grizzlies maintaining focus than anything else. They achieved that objective well, particularly in the first set, which the Grizzlies won 25-7. North Woods was zeroed in from the service line and the Ojibwe had few answers as the Grizzlies streaked to a 14-3 lead. With the score 21-7 Brittin Lappi served up three consecutive aces before Izzy Pascuzzi hammered down the game-winning kill.
To their credit, Fond du Lac adjusted a bit to the Grizzlies’ offense in the next two games, coming up with a few kills and well-placed scores of their own. But the Grizzlies were in firm control the entire time, winning both by identical scores of 25-15 while getting their bench some needed playing time.
“We played well,” Head Coach Kaileen Redmond said. “It was nice to get in our bench tonight. More than likely they won’t see a lot of court time going into the postseason, but we got them out there tonight, so we’re happy about that.”
Redmond was pleased with the Grizzlies’ serving.
“We’re really been working on staying aggressive in our serving and working on some new serves,” she said.
Redmond also acknowledged the play this season of her seniors, Mya Kinsey and Amber Sopoci.
“They’ve made huge contributions to this team,” Redmond said. “Starting with just their knowledge of varsity level gameplay in general, they know what to expect when we start putting younger kids out there. They know what to expect from these higher-level teams and they anticipate a lot of things that our younger players don’t. They’re going to be some big shoes to fill next season.”
North Woods should get a favorable seed in their half of the bracket in the Section 7A tournament next week, ranked third in the subsection behind Ely and Bigfork and fifth overall. Having split two matches against Bigfork and performing well in a pair of tough loses to Ely, Redmond is optimistic about the Grizzlies’ chances.
“I think we have a pretty good shot at a good run in the postseason,” she said.