ELY — The Ely Timberwolves volleyball team set their sights on another run through the upcoming 7A sectional tournament by closing out the regular season with three solid winning performances, and topping it off with a first-ever Arrowhead Conference championship match win on Tuesday.
Coming off a pair of losses in the Mesabi East tournament, the Wolves hosted Bigfork on Monday, Oct. 6 and ran roughshod over the Huskies 25-9, 25-14, and 25-10.
The next night, the Wolves traveled to Mt. Iron-Buhl, hoping to avenge the loss they suffered from the Rangers at Mesabi East, and this one was every bit as tight as the previous matchup.
The Wolves battled their way to wins in the first two sets, 25-17 and 25-17, but the Rangers fought back to take the next two 25-22 and 25-21 to even the match and force a decisive 15-point fifth set. It was a battle royale every true volleyball fan could revel in, with the Wolves pulling out the win in extra points, 17-15.
After a needed day to recuperate, the Wolves were back on the home hardwood on Thursday to host 6-16 Nashwauk-Keewatin. The Wolves barely broke a sweat as they brushed off the visitors in straight sets, 25-10, 25-7, and 25-14.
Ely put its 17-9 record and three-match win streak on the line on Tuesday against an all-too-familiar foe, MIB, in the first-ever Arrowhead Conference championship match at Minnesota North-Mesabi Range in Virginia.
With last week’s intense matchup still fresh in fans’ minds, expectations for another battle royale permeated the gymnasium, and the first set of the match delivered. MIB twice had leads of three in the early going, but after Peyton Huntington served an ace to tie the score at 7-7, neither team held more than a two-point lead until late in the match. The score was tied 11 times through 21-21, but a Charlotte Hegman kill ignited a decisive run that ended with a Makenzi Huntington score and a 25-21 win for the Wolves.
Feeding off that momentum, the Wolves turned the second set into a lopsided affair. After taking a 6-5 lead on a kill by Amelia Penke, Ely went on a tear with Peyton Huntington at the service line.
With Hegman and Lydia Shultz scoring big points to keep the Rangers on their heels, the Wolves surged to a commanding 15-5 lead. They built that advantage to 13 points at 20-7, and a feeble MIB surge at the end was too little, too late as Ely coasted to a 25-15 win.
Facing elimination, the Rangers came out hot in the third set, grabbing an 8-2 lead. In the first set that might have been an insurmountable lead, but this time it was merely a speed bump on the road to an Ely victory. The Wolves climbed back into a tie at 15-15, and a Sadie Rechichi kill put them in the lead for good at 16-15. A Shultz kill and a combo block by Penke and Makenzi Huntington gave Ely an 18-15 edge, and the Rangers were forced to call a time out after a Hegman rocket made the score 20-16. That break did nothing to dull the Wolves’ confidence, as Makenzi Huntington fired an ace after the time out to give the Wolves a five-point lead. The Rangers got no closer than three as Ely closed out the sweep with a 25-20 win to capture the championship title.
The match win capped a four-match winning streak that positions the Wolves to make a strong run in the 7A sectional tournament next week as a likely third-seed.