Above: It was a long stretch, but Sarah Carman made a nice bump on this ball to her frontline. Right: Shauna Blake (17) tapped the ball over while a crouching Linden Sutton (7) gets ready for a return.
The unbeaten Viking volleyball team hit the road on Tuesday, September 29, traveling to Cotton, Minnesota to face the one-win Lakeview Christian Academy Lions.
The game was played in Cotton because Lakeview doesn’t have its own gym, so it has to host teams at gyms that are available in the Duluth area.
It was long bus ride but a quick match as the Vikings won 3-0 and displayed good sportsmanship as well.
“We won 25-5, 25-20, 25-16,” said Volleyball Head Coach Pam Taylor. “After the first game I pulled all of the starters and played the bench.”
Currently several Vikings are ranked in the top 10 in different statistical categories for all schools, large and small in the region. Meredith Sutton is second in kills with 3.7 Ks per game and she ranks 6th with 4.6 digs per game.
Big sister Linden Sutton is ranked 9th in kills with 2.4 Ks per game and is 10th in digs with 4.5 per game.
With 4.8 set assists per game Maddy Roy ranks 9th and Emily Jacobsen—who hasn’t missed a serve all year—is ranked first while Lily Gruber Schulz is ranked 6th in serves with a .977 average.
When asked if the Vikings have ever started off the season 11-0, or had a longer win streak, Taylor replied, “I believe this is our longest winning streak we have ever had.”
With a deep bench and a strong junior varsity team, the Vikings should be poised to make a nice run in the playoffs.
With only seven games remaining on the schedule, the first-place Vikings next have a road game against South Ridge and then play in the Two Harbors tournament before coming home on October 6 against Silver Bay. Two nights later the Vikings will play what might be their toughest opponent to date, the alwaystough Carlton Bulldogs will come to town on October 8. Both games start at 6:30 p.m.
Go Vikings!
Above: With her eyes firmly on the ball, Emily Jacobsen set this ball to a teammate in a recent game.
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