North Shore Yetis are champion volleyball players

Unbeknownst to many North Shore community members, there is a very active youth volleyball team practicing and traveling to play. WTIP reached out to this team to find out more. One of the parent organizers, Allison Heeren provides this report:

It’s 5:45 a.m. on a very dark and bitterly cold winter Tuesday. With the snow swirling over backpacks and ponytails, it almost looks like visions of the infamous white furry Nordic monsters trudging through the drifts to the gym doors. These Yetis are not those of legend...yet.

Through the freezing early morning shadows, Coach Marly Wester greets her players at the door with a smile.

The North Shore Yeti 14U Volleyball team concept began with a very passionate group of eighth grade girls who wanted to compete at a higher level and be challenged to grow their skills in a year round volleyball club.
While initially joining a Duluth team seemed like the simplest answer to this desire, with this cohesive group of girls, parents wondered if a local opportunity could be created to not only allow for the girls’ participation in multiple sports, but also to continue their team growth together.

With solid parent support of time and resources, the North Shore Yetis were inducted into the North Country Region Volleyball Association. But forming the local club was the relatively simple part. Organizers thought finding the coach to lead our girls to both delicately foster growth while still challenging them would be trickier. That was until Marlene Wester agreed to our wish for her to lead this new team.
Coach Wester has been relentless in her nurturing dedication and use of her own knowledge as a coach and player to build team Yeti. We as parents couldn’t have dreamed of a better fit to coach these special girls.

Needless to say, the hard work, tireless commitment, focus on learning and heart for competition and each other as team mates, has to come from these nine athletes and does, no question.

The Yetis will play in five tournaments this season that runs January through April.  With two successful tournaments under their belt, this past weekend the North Shore Yetis 14U team became champions of the Crossfire Tournament after a hard played day in Champlin as they defeated Blaine, St. Paul East, White Bear Lake, Champlin and finally Bemidji in the title game.
They were the only team to be undefeated in all games, never losing a single set.

While the snowy vision of Yetis ambling into the gym may seem unbelievable, one thing for certain is this North Shore Yeti Volleyball team is for real.

Thank you, Allison Heeren for this report and for the team photos. 

The Championship photo includes: North Shore Yetis 14U wearing champion T-shirts. (L-R, front) RaeAnne Silence, Weston Heeren (team manager), Molly LaVigne, Charlet Waver, Amy Carpenter. (L-R, back) Sadie Wilson, Anna Heeren, Morgan Starkey, Christianna Mendivil, Ella Sporn, Coach Marlene Wester. Not pictured: North Shore Yeti club manager Paul Sporn