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Dating back to the Sibley East tournament last weekend, the Chisago Lakes volleyball team had run off nine straight victories before falling to Holy Angels at the Wildcat Invitational on Saturday, September 30.

But, before then, the ‘Cats had won their last three at the East tourney, and then beat Princeton and Cambridge-Isanti in Mississippi 8 Conference play in the middle of the week before winning their first four in CL Invite.

Chisago Lakes 3, Princeton 1

The Wildcats made quick work of Princeton, winning 3-1 over the Tigers, who have only one win in the conference.

Chisago Lakes 3, Cambridge-Isanti 2

The ‘Cats had a much more spirited affair against Cambridge-Isanti on Thursday, September 28. 

The emotional night began with the home team Bluejackets paying tribute to a former teammate who had tragically passed away in a snowmobile accident earlier this year.

The game was an ‘orange-out’ for the Cambridge crowd, as that was the former player’s favorite color, and the C-I team was surprised and emotional when Chisago Lakes’ full team and coaching staff showed up in orange t-shirts in support in a nice moment.

Once the game started, it was a back-and-forth affair between the two squads. Chisago Lakes won the first set and looked like they might win the match easily, but Cambridge-Isanti came back to win the second set. The two teams traded the next sets, with Chisago Lakes racing out to an 11-0 lead in one of them.

In the fifth and final set, Cambridge-Isanti took an early 5-3 lead, but on the attacks of Rebecca Norelius and Abby Zins, the Wildcats raced back and took a commanding lead before winning 15-10.

Chisago Lakes Invite

The ‘Cats raced out to four wins in the early part of their home invite before falling to Holy Angels in final match.

Chisago Lakes beat International Falls in their first match. The first set was close with a 25-19 final, but the second set turned into a laugher, with Chisago Lakes winning 25-4.

The ‘Cats had an even easier time in their next match up, clobbering St. Paul Johnson 25-2, 25-12.

Their third match was potentially a section preview against the Mahtomedi Zephyrs. The Wildcats again took care of business, winning 25-19, 25-17 with Zins and Norelius leading the offense with a combined 15 kills.

The sweeps continued for Chisago Lakes in their home invite as they had a rematch with Cambridge-Isanti. This time there was no back-and-forth however, as CL won 25-15, 25-22.

But, Chisago Lakes finally ran into a team they couldn’t solve, with The Academy of Holy Angels berating them 25-16, 25-13. However, the Stars are 14-1 on the year and  ranked fourth in the state in Class AAA. They have lost a total of six sets in those 15 matches, so they were certainly a tall task to take on.

With the winning streak, the Wildcats moved to 14-8 on the year. They’ve got two conference match up this week against Zimmerman and St. Francis before ending in a stretch of four games against Coon Rapids, Big Lake, Becker and St. Anthony.

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