Megan Lehto gets set to bump the ball to the frontline in the game against Cromwell while Sarah Deschampe (16) is ready to assist if she has to. The Vikings lost 3-2 to Cromwell, dropping their record to 2-1 on the season.
The Vikings traveled to Silver Bay on Tuesday, September 3 to play their North Shore rival the Silver Bay Mariners and won 3 games to 1 in a best-of-five game series.
Sarah Deschampe was named player of the match for her play in the backcourt and her serving. In the last game Deschampe served 16 straight points for the Vikings.
“Sarah’s serving was just remarkable,” said Head Coach Pam Taylor.
Hard-hitting Linden Sutton also had another big game for the Vikes with 18 kills.
The Vikings won the first game 25-8, then took game two 25-13 before falling 25-23 in game three. But the resilient Vikings took care of the match by winning game four 25-17 over a tough Mariner team.
3-2 loss to Cromwell
The match against the Cromwell Cardinals at home on Thursday, September 5 was one that Viking coaches and play-ers alike will most certainly look back on as a match that slipped through their fingers.
Up, up and away! Maddy Roy seems to be getting ready to do her best Superwoman impersonation, but in reality she had just set the ball to her teammate, Linden Sutton, who is just out of the picture.
Early in the first game both teams made some nice plays, but when the Vikings took a 12-8 lead the Cardinals seemed to lose steam and the Viking players picked up their play behind a couple of spectacular digs by Sarah Deschampe, some big spikes and fine net play by Linden Sutton, Jessica Berg-Collman and Jamie Sjogren, and before you knew it the Vikings closed out the game with a 25-14 win.
Game 2 was a different story as the Vikings struggled to find their rhythm and consistency. Down 10-16, the kids slowly fought back to bring the score to 18-19 and it looked like the Vikings were going to come back to take this game. But Cromwell surged to a 25-20 win behind some fine play in the back court by Rachel Hutar and Andrea Hakmaki who both repeatedly saved points by making great digs and setting up their front row players.
The low point of the night for the Vikings was the third game. Looking tired and not talking on the court, the Vikings were often out of position and just couldn’t get anything going, losing 25-13.
But just when it looked hopeless, the Vikings came surging back in game four. In this game the Viking players showed a lot of grit and determination and played in position, not giving up easy points. Madison Roy, Megan Lehto, and Anna Carman constantly set up Linden Sutton at the net, where Sutton made a half dozen or so nice spikes for points. With both teams playing well, the score was 12-13 when Breana Peterson stepped up to serve. The senior kept her serve until the Vikings were ahead 23-14, and the Vikings closed out Cromwell 25-17 to set up a fifth deciding game.
Game five was anticlimactic as momentum gained in that fourth game disappeared. The Vikings were behind 6-0 before scoring and never got closer than 4-8 before falling 15-7.
For the game Jessica Berg-Collman had 22 set assists and 12 digs; Sarah Deschampe finished with 18 digs while Linden Sutton had 17 kills, 14 digs and Madison Roy had 13 serve assists and 13 digs.
With the win Cromwell’s record goes to 1-3, while the Vikings’ record fell to 2-1. The Vikings’ next home game is Monday, September 16 against Mesabi East. Play starts at 6:30 p.m. Come out and cheer for your Vikings!
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