Esko, South Ridge hit semifinals

Section volleyball entered the semifinal round Wednesday night with Esko and South Ridge the only two remaining local teams in action.

Section 7AA

Esko was set to play Crosby-Ironton in the 7AA semifinals Wednesday night after picking up a pair of wins in the past week.

On Oct. 23, No. 2 Esko opened with a 3-0 win over Pine City. "It was nice to get that first match win out of the way," said Esko coach Pete Stasiuk. "We played well, we didn't make a whole lot of errors and we generally played a very clean game."

Esko followed up with a another 3-0 win over No. 3 Mora Friday, Oct. 25.

"We went in confident against Mora, but they played us tough and I think at times we tightened up a bit despite getting the win," Stasiuk said. "We'll need to put together a cleaner game in the next round if we want to move on."

Crosby-Ironton is the No. 5 seed and upset No. 4 Mesabi East and then No. 1 Proctor to get to the semifinal round game against Esko.

Barnum opened the tournament with a win over Moose Lake/Willow River and then fell 3-0 to top-seeded Rush City.

Section 7A

No. 2 South Ridge opened with a 3-0 win over Silver Bay Oct. 23, followed by a 3-1 win over Cromwell-Wright Friday, Oct. 25. South Ridge played top-seeded Ely in the semifinals on Wednesday night in Virginia.

Cromwell-Wright its first round match over Cook County on Oct. 23.

"That was one of our better matches on the year," said Cards coach Amy Granholm. "We had good intensity, confidence and focus and I thought our defense was much improved as well as our offense and hitting the ball."

The season ended against South Ridge last Friday.

"We came out with intensity again, but South Ridge is really good at knowing when and where to tip the ball and they are a strong hitting team," Granholm said. "We played well defending them, but just couldn't keep up."

Carlton/Wrenshall lost to Cherry 3-0 in the first round and Fond du Lac fell 3-0 to Floodwood.

Section 7AAA

The Cloquet Lumberjacks also fell out of the playoffs Oct. 23 when they lost an entertaining 3-1 match to Princeton. The team finished at 13-13.