Jacks Volleyball Comes Close But Falls To Hibbing

Wes Vork-NSO

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Sept 20

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – It has been a long time since Cloquet has been able to beat Hibbing in volleyball. On Monday night the stage was set for the Jacks to pull off an upset. Leading 19-10 in game one the Lumberjacks were rolling and the Blue Jackets were reeling. Key to the Cloquet lead was the serving early in the game of Ahnna Peterson who served for 9-straight points in the game as well as picking up 5-ace serves in the game. However, the Jacks also ran into trouble serving after Hibbing made a late game run. The Jacks had three straight serves where they either hit the ball into the net or long giving the Blue Jackets a chance to get momentum.

Unfortunately Hibbing was able to rise to the occasion and rebound from their slow start and went on to win 25-22, 25-22 and 25-16 sending the Jacks to a crushing defeat.

Cloquet held leads of 19-10, 21-13 and 22-17 in the first game. Local fans could almost smell a game one win. That all changed when the Blue Jackets managed a side out point to cut the gap to 22-18 on a kill by Ebony Gray. Then? The Blue Jackets scored the final 7-straight points off the serve of Dory Johnson to secure the win.

The come-from-behind victory by Hibbing in game one seemed to stun Cloquet who fell behind 4-0 in game two. After struggling to get within 4-3 the Jacks suddenly saw the Blue Jackets race to a 10-3 edge and never look back in gaining another hard-fought victory over a feisty Cloquet squad.

Game three saw the Blue Jackets roll to an early 9-2 lead and eventually secure the match win with a 25-16 victory.

The Lumberjacks struggled to find a couple of answers in the match. One of the problems Cloquet faced was finding a way to block sophomore Ebony Gray who proved to be quick at the net and powerful. Gray finished with just six kills, but she had the Jacks on their heels dealing with her powerful hits at the net. Secondly, Cloquet struggled in finding ways to hit through the Blue Jacket blockers at the net. Consistently the Hibbing blockers were able to shut down the Cloquet offense with a timely block which seemed to frustrate the Jacks.

Maddie Kiehn and Katie Schulz led Cloquet with 10 and 8 kills respectively. Kierra Johnson had 15 digs from her libero position in the back row and Ahnna Peterson had five ace serves.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com