The Ely Timberwolves face a giant obstacle in their quest to return to the top of Section 7A.
That was driven home Monday, when Chisholm handed the high school volleyball team its first defeat in an instant classic that went to five sets, none decided by more than four points.
In all, 222 points were contested in the two-hour-plus marathon, and the host Bluestreaks won 112 to Ely’s 110, prevailing 28-26, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21,15-13.
Chisholm, which reached the semifinal round of the 7A playoffs in 2025, served notice it will be a title contender this fall while handing Ely its first loss in nine contests and knocking off a team that has its own 7A title aspirations.
“It’s obviously not fun to get a loss, but at the same time we’ve got a lot of big things coming,” said Ely Head Coach Megan Bialik. “Maybe it’s a nice wake-up call. We’re capable of beating teams like that but we have to be prepared.”
Before a boisterous Chisholm crowd, the two teams traded points and momentum like a couple of heavyweight fighters.
Fueled by hitters Ashley Panichi and Jezirae Flack, the ‘Streaks led by as many as six points early on, but the Wolves howled back, tying the opening set at 22, 24, 25 and 26 before kills by Panichi and Hennessy Temple gave Chisholm a 28-26 win.
The second set was as evenly contested before Peyton Huntington’s ace serve started a three-point Ely run that ended the set and evened things up.
In the third, Ely grabbed the early edge, but a five-point margin was trimmed to just one late in the set.
It took a kill by Wolves senior Amelia Penke, who had seven for the night, to give the Wolves a 25-22 win and put them a set away from victory.
But despite 13 kills apiece by seniors Charlotte Hegman and Audrey Kallberg, and another dozen from junior Violet Udovich, Ely could never put the hosts away.
The fourth set was very much like the first three, but two kills by Flack helped start a 6-2 run that closed things out with Chisholm winning 25-21.
Everything came down to the fifth set and Chisholm led 11-7 before the Wolves took a timeout, regrouped and stormed back with four points to tie it at 11.
This time, Chisholm re‑gained the slightest edge, with a Panichi tip giving the hosts the 15-13 victory in the fifth set - and the win for the night.
Bialik said the contest provided a learning expe‑rience for a team that has been rarely tested in regular season play.
“It showed us that we need to learn how to adjust to somebody who will block us,” she said. “We don’t see that in our section and when we do, we get surprised and I feel like maybe we panic a bit. The big difference is we didn’t swing to our full po‑tential and that made a huge difference. We gave them easy balls and they gave us harder balls in return. Defen‑sively they were pretty solid, but I don’t think it’s anything we can’t handle.”
Senior Lydia Shultz added 25 digs to go with nine kills for the Wolves, while senior setter Gretta Lowe dished out 44 assists along with 13 digs.
Hegman also reached double digits in digs with 13 and Huntington wound up with eight.
The Wolves will compete Sept. 25-26 at the Class A Showcase in Burnsville. It’s an event that brings together 16 of the best Class A teams from across the state and serves as a preview of sorts of the state tournament.
Ely is looking for a bit of redemption after losing all five games at the showcase in 2025.
“I’m looking forward to some good competition,” said Bialik. “We will be seeing some people who can make us compete a little bit more. We need to make sure we can mentally handle things when they get hard.”
Pairings for the Class A Showcase will be determined over the weekend and Ely opens with two games Friday with three more on Saturday.
The Wolves took first place in last weekend’s Greenway Tournament, easily downing both Nash‑wauk Keewatin and Interna‑tional Falls in pool play, and then defeating host Green‑way and Mesabi East in the championship round. Ely overcame an opening set de‑feat to rally past Mesabi East.
