'Jacks roll with recent success

Entering this season, the Cloquet volleyball team had three straight runs to the Section 7AAA finals, finishing as runner-up each time. If the Lumberjacks are going to the championship game this year, they will do so with a much younger and unproven line up.

"We graduated five seniors from last year's team," said coach Heidi Anderson, whose team blanked Moose Lake/Willow River at home on Tuesday.

All five of Cloquet's graduated seniors started for at least two seasons with Ava Carlson, one of the best outside hitters in the area, a starter for more than four seasons. Blythe Proulx, Carly Johnson and Quinn Danielson all were three-year starters for the 'Jacks and Lexi Niemi was a two-year starter.

Much of last year, Cloquet was ranked as the top local team and finished with a stellar record of 25-3. This season they will need to rely on a trio of players who saw a strong amount of playing time last season and others who played smaller roles last season.

"Girls who saw playing time last year were Ella Maslowski at setter, Josie Lindstrom at middle hitter and Ava Maslowski at outside hitter," Anderson said.

Other players who return from the varsity last year include outside hitter Ahnna Carlson, middle hitter Hannah Van Hoever, and setters Ella Anderson and Emma Warnygora.

A couple of newcomers are Carmen Davis at middle hitter/right side hitter and Brynlynn Tuura at outside hitter. Both seniors are joined by junior Aislee Grangruth, who is a defensive specialist and outside hitter, along with freshman outside hitter/middle hitter Cadence Wilmot.

On Tuesday night, the Lumberjacks took on ML/WR and came away with a hard-fought 3-0 win over a feisty Rebels squad.

Cloquet won the first game 25-21, then pulled away to a 25-10 win in the second set. The 'Jacks won the match with a 25-23 come-from-behind third set win.

"Despite losing that third set, I was proud of how the girls came out and stayed focused after a rough second set," said Rebels coach Caitlin Miller. "In the second set we struggled with our passing game and on defense, and Cloquet jumped on their chances."

A big player in the second set for the 'Jacks was Wilmot. The freshman had six kills in the set coming off the bench.

While ML/WR fought hard in the third set, the Lumberjacks did too. They trailed at one time by six points late in the set and then managed to claw their way back to win the set.

"They are a scrappy team and they were tough in that third set," said Anderson of the Rebels. "Once we started coming back, our student section got into it and that seemed to get us going."

Leading the Cloquet attack at the net was Ava Maslowski, who finished with 11 kills, Cadence Wilmot with six kills and Ella Maslowski with four kills.

Ella Anderson and Ella Maslowski ran the offense efficiently for the 'Jacks with 12 and 10 set assists respectively. Defensively Ella Maslowski had 13 digs, Ava Maslowski added six digs and Wilmot recorded five digs.

On offense the 'Jacks also had three ace serves from Ava and Ella Maslowski and Ella Anderson.

"One of the challenges is finding playing time and gaining varsity experience for players that haven't seen much, if any, varsity time in the past," Coach Anderson said. "There are a lot of moving pieces. Right when you think you have it figured out, something else comes into play and you have to adjust, but we're getting better each and every game."

Those sentiments were also echoed by Coach Miller, who has seen growth from her Rebels squad in recent games.

"I was proud of how the girls played in the match and especially how they responded against a much bigger school, which sometimes can be intimidating," Miller said.

The Rebels were set to play Carlton/Wrenshall Thursday night while the Lumberjacks were headed to Proctor the same night.