South Ridge Volleyball Showcases New Home Court

Wes Vork-NSO

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Aug 28, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Grizzles of Northwood’s school spoiled the opening of the South Ridge Panthers new Gym Tuesday night as the Grizzles knocked off South Ridge in three straight games to defeat the Panthers at home. The Grizzles beat the Panthers 25-22 in the first game, 25-18 in the second, and it was 25-17 in the third game.

The Grizzles are the defending section champions and returned all six starters saw a much different team in the Panthers from a year ago in the section finals. South Ridge had 12 seniors on last season’s roster when they made their postseason run.

Head Coach Brad Olesiak stated “We gave them a good run, they have basically their whole team back from last season and we lost 12 seniors from a year ago.” Olesiak stated “They should make a section run again and are a team to beat.” The youthful Panthers battled tough, keeping the Grizzles within site but just fell short in each game of the match.

Coach Olesiak mentioned how exciting it was to play for the first time in the new gym at home. “We almost had a home playoff game last year but it just didn’t work out. We were close, maybe hours away from being done for a home game; it was something the seniors hoped for last season but now we have to move on.” Olesiak also said “it’s great to play in a new gym, with new lockers and everything is so clean, bright and nice.”

To say the Panthers are a very young team is an understatement; with only one senior on the roster, they start three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior. Justine Janke led the Panthers with 13 kills, 9 digs, and 2 blocks. Mikayla Olesiak added 6 digs, 4 kills, and 2 ace serves. Callie Thomason finished with 22 set assists on the night.

The Panthers fall to 1-1 to start the season, and they will be home again on Thursday when they host Mesabi East. North Woods starts the season 1-0 overall and they will play their home opener on Thursday when they host the Broncos of International Falls.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com