Ely’s three-year reign atop Section 7A volleyball has come to an end.
The defending champion Timberwolves didn’t go down without a fight and in fact were a point away from forcing a decisive fifth set before North Woods rallied to pull out a 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 27-25 home victory in the Oct. 24 7A quarterfinals.
The dramatic victory, powered by 20 kills from senior Lauren Bennett, put the Grizzlies into Wednesday’s section semifinals and ended not only Ely’s stretch of three 7A titles, but six straight berths in the 7A final four.
Ely finished 19-10 and got off the deck in the fourth set, nearly clawing back.
Trailing 24-20, Ely scored five points in a row to take a 25-24 lead, with Peyton Huntington delivering an ace serve and Lydia Shultz a key kill during the surge.
The Grizzlies took a timeout, and after the break an Ely serve sailed wide and the hosts Brittni Lappi delivered an ace to make it 26-25.
Burnett then finished matters with a powerful hit, and North Woods took the match and went on to beat South Ridge in four sets this week to reach today’s 7A final.
The Timberwolves had split two games with the Grizzlies during the regular season, with Ely taking a best-of-five encounter and North Woods sweeping a two-setter during a weekend tournament.
In the deciding rubber match, North Woods came out swinging and never let up.
“I think that we just struggled to connect our block with their hitters,” said Ely Head Coach Megan Bialik. “That went really well for us when we beat them at home, but we just couldn’t complete our block and left a lot of room for errors. But they swung hard. North Woods did not slow down.”
Ely pulled away for a first set win but the Grizzlies evened things in the second.
North Woods dominated much of the third, rattling off six straight points to take a 16-10 edge and not looking back.
With their season on the line, the Wolves battled for their playoff lives in the fourth.
After the contest was tied at 17, North Woods went on a mini-surge and was a point away from victory when Ely stormed back.
This time, Ely was unable to capitalize when it was a point away and the Grizzlies prevailed.
“I think that momentum shift in the fourth could have really changed the last game, and would have changed the rest of the section playoffs,” said Bialik. “But volleyball is one game at a time.”
Izzy Pascuzzi added 15 kills for the winners and Lappi finished with 11.
North Woods went on to beat South Ridge in four sets Wednesday to set up today’s title game with Floodwood, which outlasted Chisholm in five.
Junior Lydia Shultz led the Wolves with 10 kills and senior Sadie Rechichi finished with nine, as did junior Amelia Penke.
Charlotte Hegman, a junior, added another eight kills for Ely and senior Makenzi Huntington wound up with seven.
Shultz added 22 digs and both Rechichi (15) and Penke (10) also hit double digits, while junior Gretta Lowe wound up with 23 set assists and Penke had another dozen.
The Wolves battled adversity throughout the season and missed junior Audrey Kallberg, a returning starter who was lost for the season because of a knee injury.
The sting of the loss is beginning to ease and the Wolves are already looking forward to 2026.
“We have so much to be proud of and so much to be thankful for,” said Bialik. “We have Audrey coming back. We are losing two seniors and that makes a difference but hopefully some other girls step up and put some time in and it will be a new season, a new us.”
