We are Grantsburg » Grantsburg volleyball

Grantsburg conference champs or Winning ugly

Bob — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:49:46 +0000

It was ugly, but in the end it was enough. I know it seems weird to be bagging on an undefeated team, but even they are not happy with the way they played against St. Croix Falls on Tuesday night. Really, they probably should've lost at least the third set as there was a very close call on game point that went against SCF, or else the Saints would've won. Give the Pirates credit, though, they came back from being down 23-21 and 24-23 to win the best of five in straight sets (25-15, 25-17, 26-24).

The victory means Grantsburg will finish no worse than tied for first in the conference (the Luck/Frederic match hasn't been reported to WisSports.net yet, so it's possible that the Pirates are already conference champs outright). If the Pirates win one of their remaining two conference matches (@ Unity, @ Webster) they will be conference champs all by themselves.

So the question is how they will come out on Thursday against Unity (9-9, 5-5)? The Pirates should have no problems in this one and it will be good if they can put the SCF game behind them and get back to their confident, high-octane, blow the opponent out ways. Of course getting a wake-up call with out having to actually lose is also pretty nice.

Here's the match replay, if you dare!

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Grantsburg conference champs or Winning ugly

23

Bob — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:34:57 +0000

The 23 enigma refers to the belief that most incidents and events are directly connected to the number some modification of the number 23, or a number related to the number 23. (Wikipedia)

Well, there is no mystery involved here. In fact it's as much of a breaking news story as the fact that the sun came up this morning. It would only be news if it didn't happen (with slightly different ramifications, but you get my point).

The Grantsburg Pirate volleyball team (20-0, 9-0) goes for it's 23rd consecutive conference championship tonight. If they beat St. Croix Falls (7-13, 5-3) this evening in Grantsburg, they will have accomplished just that by clinching at least a co-championship with two matches left to play after tonight.

The streak dates back to 1989 and the old Upper St. Croix Valley Conference. Think about that one. George H.W. Bush was in office, MTV played music videos and Bill Morrin had hair. Top movies were The Little Mermaid and Look Who's Talking. Johnny Carson still ruled late night. People who are now graduating from college were not even born when this streak started. Goodness.

The Pirates have a 2.5 match lead on Luck and a 3.5 match lead on St. Croix Falls. So, while both of those teams are still mathematically alive, that won't be the case come around 8:30 tonight when the Pirates will be celebrating another conference championship. Unless they don't.

Oh, by the way… the past four years, Grantsburg is 129-3. Two of those three losses came in the State championship match. The third loss was against Hayward a couple years ago. The Pirates went on to win it all that year. Wow

Catch the game tonight on www.wearegrantsbug.com. First serve is at 7:30. It's also parents night so it should be a fun atmosphere.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

23

Pirates win audio and video

Bob — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:14:33 +0000

It's as simple as the headline suggests. The volleyball team, despite feeling under the weather collectively, rolled to a straight set victory (25 – 10,6,17) over the Siren Dragons tonight. That keeps the Pirates undefeated and the Dragons still looking for their first victory.

The match had some nice moments, but it seemed like both teams were aware of what the outcome was going to be and it just felt a little flat to me. After coming off an emotional victory against Luck the previous game and with some sick girls, the Pirates were able to win decisively.

Here's the match.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Pirates win *audio and video*

Huge match tonight in Grantsburg

Bob — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:47:46 +0000

The standings argue that this game is the default championship game of the West Lakeland Conference. The Luck Cardinals (15-4, 5-1) travel to the Grantsburg Pirates (12-0, 7-0). Should the Pirates win they will almost certainly win the conference, should Luck pull off the upset, they will likely be co-conference champs with Grantsburg – barring an unlikely conference loss the rest of the way by either team.

Luck's one match loss is to the Pirates on the second match of the year. Luck has also give Grantsburg their only blemish as the Pirates are 31-1 in sets taking their only set loss against the Cardinals, 20-25 in that same match.

So the question is whether Luck will have enough firepower on the road to topple the mighty Pirates who appear to be firing on all cylinders?

The match starts at 7:30 and will be streamed live, but joined in progress. (I am coaching the middle school football teams and we're hosting St. Croix Falls tonight. I'm just not confident the game will be over by the start of the match, thankfully it's in Grantsburg so the commute from the football field to the gym will be pretty short).

	Conf	GB	CW%	CPF	CPA	Total	TW%	TPF	TPA
Grantsburg	7-0	-	1.000	21	1	12-0	1.000	31	1
Luck	5-1	1.5	0.833	16	3	15-4	0.789	37	12
Unity	4-3	3	0.571	12	12	8-7	0.533	23	22
Saint Croix Falls	2-3	4	0.400	8	9	3-11	0.214	12	25
Webster	2-4	4.5	0.333	8	14	3-5	0.375	11	16
Frederic	2-4	4.5	0.333	7	14	2-5	0.286	7	16
Siren	0-7	7	0.000	2	21	0-8	0.000	3	23

standings courtesy of Wisconsin Sports Network

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Huge match tonight in Grantsburg

The Drive In post-match interview

Bob — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:44:04 +0000

Thank you to Grantsburg head volleyball coach, Deb Johnson for this post-match interview sponsored by The Drive In!

Post from: We are Grantsburg

The Drive In post-match interview

Grantsburg takes out Frederic audio replay

Bob — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:39:50 +0000

The Grantsburg volleyball team continues to come together as they defeated the Vikings three sets to zero. The Vikings just had too many free balls over to Grantsburg and could not get in their attack, plus the Pirates serving was incredible in terms of aces (they're still hitting too many into the net, but that'll get better, too). Deb will post stats later, but I'm forecasting double digit aces… let's go with 14. By the way, make sure you check out Deb's volleyblog… always some awesome stuff and she's very transparent as far as philosophy and expectations.

Nikki Ticknor played outstanding and so did Sam Schwieger from the outside. Kylie Pewe set well and Gabby Witzany had some very good net play.

The Pirates attacked and the Vikings could not recover.

Grantsburg plays again on Thursday as they host Luck in the de facto conference championship game which we will join in progress here on We are Grantsburg.

Here's the audio replay of the match.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Grantsburg takes out Frederic *audio replay*

Homecoming week

Bob — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:06:46 +0000

It's a week full of fun and excitement in the hallways of any high school. It's homecoming week in Grantsburg. Tonight it will be the start of the athletic portion of the festivities with Grantsburg (6-0, 11-0) hosting Frederic (2-3, 2-4) in volleyball. The fun continues on Thursday because there is another volleyball match that will go a long way in determining the conference championship when the Pirates host the Luck Cardinals (4-1, 14-4).

Then on Friday the Pirate football team looks to win their big game against the Cameron Comets. The win would mean a lot for the Pirates as this year has not gotten off to the kind of start they were hoping for.

Currently we have the Tuesday volleyball match and the Friday football game covered here on We are Grantsburg. I have a conflict (coaching middle school football… game vs. SCF @ home) which may cause me to get to the game late, but I am planning on heading up to the gym immediately following the game to join the match in progress.

It's an exciting week here in Grantsburg, please come along for the ride!

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Homecoming week

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#1 Grantsburg hosts Frederic VB

Bob — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:55:45 +0000

The Grantsburg Pirates seem to be rolling right now as they're off to a great 11-0 start, which has earned them the top spot on the newly announced WVCA's Division 3 rankings. Jay Messar from wissports.net wrote a little bit about the rankings… loved his "burg" line… click on the link to read what he said.

The Pirates cruised through their own tournament on Saturday… the "closest" anyone came to taking a set from them was the Braham Bombers as they got within 9 points of winning. Think of that… nobody came within 10 points, on average, of beating the Pirates. Wow.

This Tuesday, the Pirates will be taking on Frederic for the third time this season. The first time was the first match of the year for the Purple and they came out strong, beating the Vikings in straight sets. The next time they met was on Saturday during the Grantsburg Invitational tournament and the Pirates took care of business winning the first two sets of the best of three.

Will the third time be the charm for Frederic? Probably not, unless the Pirates are too busy worrying about decorating their hallways and the big match against Luck on Thursday. This is the Pirates conference to lose at this point, having beat every team in it once. It's the second time through and the only blemish they gals in purple have is against the Luck Cardinals in which they dropped their only set of the year in set number three 20-25.

The Pirates are 11-0 and 28-1 in matches. Their average score? 25-13.

Catch the audio live at www.wearegrantsburg.com starting at 7:25!

Post from: We are Grantsburg

#1 Grantsburg hosts Frederic VB

Grantsburg vs. Webster GB Tourney

Bob — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:59:50 +0000

My intention today was to cover a lot of volleyball, but my voice and health decided to rebel, thus I was only able to get one game in today which is the one below between Grantsburg and Webster.

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Grantsburg vs. Webster GB Tourney

Grantsburg tourney schedule set

Bob — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:11:10 +0000

The undefeated Grantsburg volleyball team is hosting their annual tournament this Saturday. The varsity tourney begins at 10 a.m. and is a round robin format. The final match is scheduled for 4:30. We'll be there as much as possible to cover the games. Here's Grantsburg's schedule:

10:00 Grantsburg vs. Webster (3-3)

11:55 Grantsburg vs. New Richmond (3-7)

12:50 Grantsburg vs. Frederic (2-3)

2:40 Grantsburg vs. Northwood (1-3)

4:30 Grantsburg vs. Braham (3-3)

I anticipate that we will broadcast all but the Frederic match because I'll be covering the wiener dog races at Grantoberfest! What a busy and fun time we'll have this Saturday!

Click here for the full Varsity tournament Schedule.

Click here for the full Junior Varsity tournament schedule.

Post from: We are Grantsburg

Grantsburg tourney schedule set