FIELD TWP- The North Woods Grizzlies volleyball team has been a bit of a puzzle of late. After a strong start to the season, the Grizzlies have had trouble holding onto the essential element that fueled five and six-game winning streaks this season— momentum.
That inability to hold onto Old Mo’ was in evidence at Monday’s senior appreciation matchup against Chisholm, a scenario that usually gives the home team extra incentive to win for their outgoing seniors.
It was expected to be a battle of two evenly-matched teams, and it was all of that in the first set. In a contest that featured 11 ties, neither team led by more than three and no lead was safe. Trailing 23-22, the Grizzlies drew even on a kill by Hannah Kinsey, took the lead on an errant set by the Bluestreaks, and then closed out the win on a good defensive play by Kinsey at the net.
North Woods held a slim lead throughout most of the second set, and with Tori Olson at the service line built a five-point edge at 19-14. Chisholm closed to within two at 20-18, but the Grizzlies regrouped and won their second set of the match 25-20 on a kill by Lauren Burnett.
Needing only one win to close out the match, Old Mo’ picked up its bags and moved to the opposite side of the net. North Woods was trailing 12-9 when a Chisholm kill put the ball in the serving hands of the Bluestreaks’ Sloen Worlie. Sprinkling in four aces and taking advantage of North Woods miscues, Chisholm suddenly found themselves up 20-9 and breezed to a 25-12 victory.
The fourth set was another tightly-contested affair, with the game knotted late at 18-18. But Chisholm’s Ava Silvestrini ended a long rally with a blistering kill down the line. The reactions of the Bluestreaks showed that momentum was clearly on their side, and the confident crew closed out the set 25-19.
Tied 2-2, the Grizzlies had one more chance to pull out the match, and when Burnett fired an ace to open the final set it sent a message that they weren’t finished yet. But while North Woods clung to the lead and held an 11-9 edge, Chisholm clearly looked to be the more confident team throughout and went on a 6-0 tear to steal the set at the match 15-11.
“I have to give props to Chisholm tonight, they had some big digs and took everything we threw at them,” Grizzlies Head Coach Kandi Olson said. “We definitely lost our flow, and just couldn’t reconnect again. We’ve struggled with that in a few games recently and we just have to refocus and figure out how to get out of that funk.”
While extreme, the eight consecutive points the Bluestreaks reeled off in the third set was representative of how the Grizzlies have been letting momentum slip away recently.
“We come out so sharp, but once we let down we give up too many points in a row and it changes the momentum of the game completely,” Olson said. “And then we’re playing catch up. That’s something that’s new for us. We haven’t been doing that except for recently. We need to figure out how to get our momentum back.”
Over their last six matches the Grizzlies are 1-5, including a 3-0 loss to Floowood on Tuesday to close out the regular season. North Woods will have a chance to regain some of its swagger as one of the higher seeds in this coming week’s sectional playoffs, which gets underway on Monday. The Grizzlies have the tools to make a deep run in the tourney if Old Mo’ swings back their way.