Bulldogs knock down Lumberjacks

Everyone in the area expected the Carlton volleyball team to be a tough squad this season. The Bulldogs feature a load of experience, talent and a ton of grit - an often lethal combination to opponents. The Lumberjacks saw that talent up close on Tuesday when the Bulldogs walked into the Cloquet middle school gym and took an easy 25-13, 25-14 and 25-6 victory over the 'Jacks.

"We started a little slow, but that is tough after a long weekend and the first day of school," Carlton coach Barb Soukkala said. "I thought Cloquet blocked well and they dug out a lot of our hits."

Unfortunately for Cloquet, they were not able to dig out enough of the well-placed hits by the Bulldogs.

"Carlton pushes the pace and kept attacking us from various spots on the floor," said Cloquet coach Heidi Anderson. "That forced us to spend a good portion of the night on defense."

A huge key to the scrappy Bulldogs' success is that they don't rely on just one player to provide their offense. That becomes problematic for other teams. The fact that all the starters are seniors who have played together since eighth grade helps too.

"They have a well-balanced attack and they had scoring from several players, which makes them harder to defend," explained Anderson. "They also didn't let much touch the floor and they played solid defense."

Leading the Carlton attack were Abby Mickle with seven kills along with Taylor Nelson, Alaina Bennett and Ava Grondahl, who all had six kills. Sam Matarelli chipped in with five kills and Brynn Mickle ran the offense smoothly with 27 set assists.

"I thought everyone played well for us," Soukkala said. "Our hitting stats were pretty even, with all of our players getting about six or seven kills each."

Elli Willoughby led the Cloquet defense with 19 digs, while Brenna McClarey and Lucy Sinkkonen had six and five kills, respectively, to help lead the 'Jacks on offense. Sinkkonen also finished with a pair of blocks. Emerson Rock had 12 set assists and nine digs.

"You have to be able to serve and pass and control the first contact to be in the game at any level," Anderson said. "We need to be more consistent with our serve-receive and digging as well as serve tougher."

Cloquet plays at Moose Lake Tuesday and Carlton will play Duluth East at home Monday, followed by a game at Esko on Tuesday. All matches start at 7 p.m.