FIELD TWP- North Woods Head Coach Kandi Olson took a young team and question marks to South Ridge on Friday for the first match of the new volleyball season, and while they lost 3-0, some answers began to take shape.
But instead of testing those out at home Monday night, the Grizzlies got a double-dose of bad news. Both Mountain Iron-Buhl, Monday’s opponent, and International Falls, Tuesday’s foe, had to cancel their trips to North Woods because of health issues.
“I think the saddest part is that they’re missing two home games,” Olson said. “Having a home game just has a special atmosphere about it. You don’t really get a lot of home games each year, and to know that two of them are being just canceled is frustrating.”
And in a season shortened by COVID-19 precautions, there’s a good chance those matches are gone for good.
“Trying to fit these games in is going to be difficult, and I don’t even know if it’s possible,” Olson said. “That’s completely up to the ADs to figure out.”
Trying to flip a negative into a positive, Olson and her team have focused on what they can take away from a match they lost 25-17, 25-10, and 25-14.
“I think everyone on the team would agree that we made some youthful mistakes,” Olson said. “As we watched our opponent, we knew that we could have played right with them the whole time. However, we just had too many, too many mistakes compared to them.”
The players started analyzing those mistakes on the bus ride home, and having practice instead of a match on Monday gave Olson a rare opportunity to watch and analyze match videos with the team.
The Grizzlies will get the chance to see if their extra practice time and adjustments pay off when they travel to Bigfork for their next match on Tuesday, Oct. 20.