FIELD TWP — The North Woods Grizzlies have played a whole lot of volleyball this past week, and they’ve continued to impress, losing just one match of the seven they played.
The match against Deer River on Monday at North Woods was the sixth in the string, and with their team on a strong roll to start the season Grizzlies’ fans anticipated an easy night of it.
True to expectations, the opening set saw the Grizzlies set the tone early and never let up, vanquishing the Warriors 25-13. But whether the Grizzlies lost focus or the Warriors gained it, the second set was decidedly different.
Neither team could hold serve for long as the lead tipped back and forth, with North Woods holding an all-too-slim 21-18 lead when Deer River scored and took the serve back. Five serves later, the Grizzlies were staring at a 24-21 deficit and set point for the Warriors. After a North Woods time out, Lauren Burnett slammed a pair of aces to get within one, but the Warriors took the win when a North Woods hit got caught in the net.
That was a wakeup call for the Grizzlies, who came roaring back to dominate the final two sets by identical 25-10 scores. With long service runs from Brynn Chosa and Laurin Glass, the Grizzlies grabbed big leads and took full advantage of the hitting by Burnett and Izzy Pascuzzi to secure the 3-1 win with the ease fans had expected throughout.
“They turned it around at the end, but I do wish sometimes that they would just do the things that they know how to do,” North Woods Head Coach Kaileen Redmond said. “I know they have higher potential, so to see them slack off that much in that second set was tough to see because I know that’s not who they are.”
Pascuzzi and Burnett led the team in kills with 18 and 16, respectively. Chosa had 12 assists.

Greenway tourney
Early season tournaments give teams the opportunity to test themselves against a variety of different lineup and sets, and North Woods went to Greenway on Saturday to face off against four different foes in best-of-three matches.
The Grizzlies had already beaten Mesabi East and International Falls in straight sets earlier in the season, and they did so again on Saturday, winning both 2-0.
They were pushed harder by 7AA Mora but came through with a 2-1 win. Greenway, however, was an ungracious host, dispatching North Woods 2-1 for the Grizzlies’ first loss of the season.
“We dropped to Greenway first thing in the morning, and I’m going to chalk it up to the early morning jitters type of stuff,” Redmond said. “We tend to have a slow start in the morning no matter what we do. But we know what we have to do with Greenway coming up this Thursday, and we’re ready to take them on again.”

Mesabi East
A match last Thursday at home against Mesabi East started the long stretch of matches off for North Woods, and their steady, solid play simply wore the Giants down. North Woods took the first set 25-15, the second 25-16, and the third 25-11.
Burnett and Pascuzzi each had 10 kills, while Brittin Lappi picked up five kills and two blocks. Carsyn Burnett led the team in assists with 16, and Tessa Burnett fired five aces on the night.

South Ridge
A Tuesday home match against South Ridge rounded out the Grizzlies’ volleyball marathon, with North Woods claiming a 3-0 win, with set scores of 25-15, 25-15, and 25-23.