MT. IRON — The North Woods Grizzlies volleyball team got the new season off to a good start on Monday with a hard-fought 3-0 road win at Mt. Iron-Buhl.
The Grizzlies are poised to have a strong campaign this year. They have five seniors on the roster, two of the region’s top outside hitters in Lauren Burnett and Izzy Pascuzzi, and talented junior Ella Kruse and sophomore Carsyn Burnett in the starting lineup. But Monday’s battle was as much about poise as it was power, as the Rangers proved to be a dogged adversary.
A Pascuzzi kill gave the Grizzlies a 10-7 lead in a nip-and-tuck opening set that was tied eight times. The Grizzlies pushed out to a 23-18 lead and seemed to be in control when MIB turned the tables with a 6-1 run to tie it at 24-24. The seasoned Grizzlies got back on track and pushed the score to 26-25, and Lauren Burnett scorched a serve that a lunging MIB player sent soaring into the rafters to give North Woods the 27-25 win.
The Grizzlies trailed early in the second set before a four-point run with Brittin Lappi serving gave them an 8-5 lead, and North Woods maintained an edge until MIB forged a 15-15 tie. But a Rangers’ service fault put the ball back in the hands of Burnett, who served up a pair of aces in a decisive 5-0 run that put North Woods up 20-15, and Pascuzzi nailed down the 25-19 game-winning kill.
The third set was another barnburner. After grabbing a 3-1 lead, North Woods couldn’t shake the Rangers, with neither team holding more than a two-point edge up to an 18-18 tie. This time it was MIB who surged ahead on a 6-1 run that had the Grizzlies on the brink of their first loss with a 24-19 disadvantage. The Grizzlies worked the ball to Pascuzzi for a kill, and the senior then took the serve and fired three aces in a 5-0 run that pulled North Woods into a 24-24 tie. Trailing by one at 27-26, Lauren Burnett kept North Woods alive with a kill and then served up a pair of aces for the comeback 29-27 win and the 3-0 match victory.
North Woods Head Coach Kaileen Redmond praised her team’s tenacity.
“We’ve talked a lot about our mental game this year,” Redmond said. “That was something that definitely impacted us last season towards the end of the year. So we’ve spent some time this year focusing a little more on that mental aspect of the game and talking about resetting and keeping our minds in the game and not letting those little silly errors get in the way.”
Burnett slammed down 17 kills and five aces, and Pascuzzi 13 kills and two aces, but Redmond emphasized that this year’s squad has more than two weapons they can go to. Lappi collected four kills and had strong play at the net, and the other Grizzlies starters scored key points as well.
“It’s no secret that we have a couple of the best outsides in the area, but everyone knows that they’ve got to shut them down,” Redmond said. “So we needed to work on having other options. We like to move the ball around a lot more this year. And I’m glad to see that they really pushed and played that role tonight.”
The Grizzlies had a 19-6 record last year but had a disappointing second-round exit in the sectional tournament, but Redmond believes this year’s squad can be even better, particularly with the leadership she’s seeing from the team’s three co-captains, Brynn Chosa, Burnett, and Pascuzzi.
“I have a lot of seniors this year, but they’ve all grown together and we’re ready to play this year, bringing on some new younger players to fill in some of those bigger roles,” Redmond said. “Having the varsity court minute knowledge (from last year) is a huge thing for us. It’s great for the rest of our team because those players are able to share that knowledge with some of our kids who’ve never seen a lot of varsity court time. I love seeing our captains helping out with some of these younger kids even down on the JV level. They’re over there giving them pointers at practice and it’s really great to see.”
North Woods was scheduled for a road trip to International Falls on Thursday, followed by their home-opener against Bigfork on Tuesday.