International Falls’ volleyball team faced Eveleth-Gilbert in a best-of-five match for the third time this season Wednesday night when the Broncos opened the Section 7AA tournament in the FHS gym by sweeping the Golden Bears, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17.
“We were prepared to compete and battle it out with Eveleth-Gilbert,” said Falls head coach Erin Shikowsky.
The Broncos, seeded No. 4 in their Subsection, had also swept the No. 5-seeded Golden Bears when the two teams faced each other Sept. 27 in the Falls. However, Eveleth-Gilbert won in four games Oct. 11 when it hosted the Falls in an Iron Range Conference Tournament game.
Shikowsky said the Broncos had been in a “rough patch” of the season when they lost the IRC match to the Golden Bears, but were able to grow as a team from the loss and also benefited by having the home crowd of 157 behind them for the Section 7AA tournament game.
The Falls’ statistical leaders included: Shawna Misner 15 digs, three ace serves; Sara Christianson 14 digs, five kills; Reva Renollet, 10 digs, 36 set assists, five kills; Tessa Walls, 15 kills, three ace blocks; Hailey Fentem, 10 kills, two ace blocks; and Olivia Santee, five kills, three ace blocks.
The Broncos' season came to an end after losing Friday’s Section 7AA quarterfinal match in Virginia against the top-seeded Hermantown Hawks, 20-25, 19-25, 15-25.
More details of Falls’ match against Hermantown will be published in the Oct. 31 edition of The Journal.
