The Ely Timberwolves bounced back Tuesday night and exacted some revenge on Mt. Iron-Buhl.
But it wasn’t easy, and it sure wasn’t quick.
The high school volleyball team watched a two-set lead go by the wayside and needed to fight in the decisive fifth, pulling out a 17-15 win to take the road encounter.
Scores were 25-17, 25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 17-15 as Ely prevailed and evened the season series with the Rangers, who swept the Wolves in a weekend encounter at Saturday’s Mesabi East Tournament.
The two teams are on a collision course for a pivotal third matchup, which comes this Tuesday at a neutral site Mesabi Community College - in the inaugural Arrowhead Conference title game.
Ely, now 16-9 overall, won the Arrowhead’s “Big” division and MIB was first among the Arrowhead “Small” schools.
The game will close out the regular season and serves as a tune-up for the Section 7A playoffs, which start Oct. 22.
Despite three straight section crowns, the Wolves seem destined for the number- three seed in the north half of the section, behind both Chisholm and North Woods. MIB is the likely fourth seed.
In the south half of the section, Floodwood, South Ridge and Barnum hold down the top spots.
Ely has dominated the section for three years but is just one of many contenders in a deeper-than-usual 7A.
That was evident last Saturday when the Wolves went 2-2 at Mesabi East, beating the host Giants and Hinckley- Finlayson but falling to both North Woods and MIB.
The rematch against the Rangers started Ely’s way, but the hosts seized momentum midway through the third set with the help of a defense that neutralized the Wolves’ hitting.
The Rangers closed out both the third and fourth sets but Ely rebounded in the fifth to prevail, just barely.
Junior Lydia Shultz had a huge night for the winners, finding openings at the net and driving home 20 kills with a season-high 30 digs.
Senior Sadie Rechichi added another 16 kills and finished with 16 digs to complete the double-double.
Charlotte Hegman, a junior, also had a big night with 14 kills, 11 digs and three ace serves. Makenzi Huntington had seven kills and Ameila Penke added another six, and setting everything up was junior Gretta Lowe, who had a season-best 60 set assists for the night.
Lowe (12) and Huntington (10) also reached double digits in digs.
• Ely blew out Bigfork 25-9, 25-14, 25-10 in Monday night’s home matchup.
Shultz (11 kills), Penke (eight) and Hegman (seven) were Ely’s top hitters and Lowe dished out 38 set assists.
Rechichi finished with five kills and four ace serves for the winners.
• Rechichi and Ruby Lowe recorded seven kills each as the Wolves downed Hinckley-Finlayson 25-18, 25-17 during pool play at the Mesabi East Tournament.
Ely also beat the host Giants 25-23, 25-20, with Rechichi and Shultz netting eight kills each.
Gretta Lowe wound up with 15 set assists in that win and Peyton Huntington led defensively with six digs.
Mt. Iron-Buhl surprised the Wolves with a 25-18, 2521 sweep.
Penke led Ely in both kills (four) and digs (seven).
In the tournament finale, North Woods survived a harrowing first set and won 26-24, 25-17 over the Wolves.
Makenzi Huntington had three kills, while Penke finished with seven kills and eight digs.
