The Ely Timberwolves begin their quest for a fourth straight Section 7A title Wednesday night on their home court.
But as they begin, they’ve got one championship already under their best.
In impressive fashion, the high school volleyball team claimed the Arrowhead Conference title with a three-set sweep of Mt. Iron-Buhl in Tuesday night’s league title game.
The Arrowhead “Big” Division champion Wolves took down the “Small” Division champion Rangers 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 at Mesabi Community College’s Wirtanen Gymnasium.
The inaugural Arrowhead title matchup was the rubber match between the two teams, who split two encounters earlier this month.
Ely eked out a win in the opening set, dominated the second and stormed back from a 7-2 deficit to secure the sweep, taking both the title and some momentum into this week’s playoffs.
While the season wasn’t on the line, the Wolves appeared to be in playoff form and primed for action.
“We were split coming into tonight, so that mattered in itself among a few other things,” said Ely Head Coach Megan Bialik. “But they came out to play and that makes all the difference in our team. They’re enjoying themselves on the floor.”
The first set had multiple ties, the last at 20, but Ely caught fire late and took the opening set.
The second set was all-Wolves, as junior Charlotte Hegman fueled a potent hitting attack and Ely racked up a flurry of points with Peyton Huntington on serve.
Ely led 22-8 at one point and cruised to the win.
The third set started with a hiccup as the Rangers got up 7-2, but the Wolves quickly righted the ship after Bialik took a timeout.
“Sometimes it’s just a matter of stopping a server and getting ourselves reset and I think that’s what happened in that moment,” said Bialik. “They came together as a team and wanted to battle, and we’ve proven multiple times this season that we can come back from being down.”
The Rangers’ momentum evaporated and Ely first rallied and then pulled ahead.
MIB tried a pair of timeouts but nothing slowed down the Wolves, who closed things out.
Hegman reached double digits in kills with 13 while senior Sadie Rechichi notched nine and junior Lydia Shultz was next with eight.
Amelia Penke and Makenzi Huntington both added five more kills to the attack and Gretta Lowe distributed the ball, finishing with a match-high 38 set assists.
Lowe also had 16 digs, with Shultz contributing nine, followed by Peyton Huntington (eight) and Makenzi Huntington (seven).
Ely finished the regular season at 18-9, with all but one of the defeats coming in weekend tournament competition.
While playoff seeding won’t be completed until after deadline, it appears that Ely will be the number-three seed in the north half of 7A, behind Chisholm and North Woods, with South Ridge and Floodwood the likely top-two seeds in the south.
Ely will open the postseason at home at 6 p.m. Wednesday, against an opponent to be determined, with a 7A quarterfinal to follow Oct. 24 - perhaps at North Woods.
The 7A semifinals are slated for Oct. 29 at Rock Ridge with the title game three days later on Nov. 1.
“We’re ready,” said coach Bialik. “We’re ready to fight. I feel we’ve had some rocky games in the last couple weeks and some really great games. We’re ready to balance those out and play in the playoffs...it’s going to be competitive. Volleyball in our section has become quite the thing and I think we’ll have to just focus on what’s in front of us.”
• Tickets for Wednesday’s home playoff game will be available at the door.
Ticket prices are set by Section 7A and are $10 for adults and $5 for students. No passes are accepted at 7A events.
