FIELD TWP — It was a milestone moment at North Woods School last Thursday as senior volleyball standout Izzy Pascuzzi signed her national letter of intent to play at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Pascuzzi, a leader for the Grizzlies on and off the court, will join the Saints next fall while pursuing a degree in exercise physiology, a program she says fits both her athletic and academic goals.
“I really wanted to make sure that I picked a school where my academic education and my volleyball would be good for me,” Pascuzzi said. “I’m really excited for the exercise physiology program that they have at Scholastica. And I really liked the coach and the players there.”
Pascuzzi is keeping her options open for a possible future move into athletic training or physical therapy.
That mix of ambition and balance has been the story of her life, one shaped by parents who know what it takes to compete. Both Tony and Amanda Pascuzzi were college athletes themselves at Bemidji State University.
“Volleyball and basketball and track. We actually met at Bemidji State,” Amanda said. “I was on the track team and he was on the football team.”
Sports, she said, have always been part of the family’s rhythm.
Amanda remembers when Izzy’s love of the game first took hold.
“It was probably when she was about ten when she first started playing volleyball,” she said. “She really loved the sport and wanted to play all the time. Eighth grade is when I noticed that she was accelerating in sports, especially volleyball.”
From there, volleyball became a full-time commitment.
“When she was 14, she started playing for the club out of Duluth, Minnesota North,” Tony said. “Lots of practices, lots of tournaments. We were going to Omaha, Des Moines, Sioux Falls, the Wisconsin Dells, so we were traveling all over the place playing volleyball pretty much year-round.”
“When she was in basketball, she’d leave a practice at North Woods, drive to Duluth, do a volleyball practice, and get home at midnight,” Amanda added. “Tournaments typically start by 7:15 a.m. in Duluth, so we’d be leaving by 5:30 on the weekends – a big commitment.”
The family set one rule early: success in the classroom came first.
“She’s always been a reader and she’s always enjoyed school,” Amanda said. “We kind of made the deal when she started travel ball that she had to want to do it and keep her grades up. And we’ve never had an issue.”
Now, with an associate degree in hand before finishing high school, Pascuzzi carries that same balance forward.
Her growth as a player, says head coach Kaileen Redmond, has been steady and remarkable.
“I remember back when she didn’t even know how to sub into the game,” Redmond said. “Watching her grow from that into teaching that to some of our younger athletes is just really showing her character and who she’s become as a player.”
Redmond describes her as adaptable and unselfish.
“She’s constantly putting her team’s needs above her own needs,” Redmond said.
That’s a quality Pascuzzi said she’s learned to embrace over time.
“I really appreciate my teammates because I can’t do anything without them,” she said. “It takes a pass, a set, and a hit to get a point. So, I always make sure to credit them first before I do anything.”
Redmond said confidence was something they built together.
“Putting a little bit of pressure on her in situations and then seeing her sealing the deal and getting it done, she built it on her own,” Redmond said. “I knew she could do it, but she had to believe she could do it.”
Pascuzzi agreed that confidence didn’t come easily.
“I used to be nervous about it and it was pressuring,” she said. “But I actually like it now. I like being someone that people look up to.”
She also said her coach’s guidance helped her find that composure.
“Even in club, I would kind of go back to her sometimes and ask her for advice on things,” she said. “She’s had a really strong influence on me.”
Redmond said their connection goes well beyond volleyball – part caffeine buzz, part real talk.
“She’s like one of those Velcro athletes. The second I walk into this building she is all over me. She just loves to just talk. And she loves caffeine. But I know that I can always turn to her and have a really serious conversation,” Redmond said.
Pascuzzi’s drive, warmth, and discipline, Redmond said, will make her a perfect fit at Scholastica and a lasting presence in the legacy of North Woods volleyball.