Top: Raina Ryden made a great play to save this ball from hitting the floor and scoring a point for Mesabi- East. Above: Making a cat-quick play on a hard hit ball was Sarah Toftey with a concerned Raina Ryden looking over her shoulder. Right: With her “eyes on the prize,” Meredith Sutton got ready to smack one of her thunderous spikes over the net against MIB.
This past week the Cook County volleyball team continued its unbeaten season with wins over Barnum, Mesabi East and Mountain Iron-Buhl, playing two games at home and one on the road.
On Thursday, September 10 the Vikings traveled to Barnum and won three straight games 25-18, 25-16, and 25-6 to sweep the Bombers on their home floor.
For the game Maddy Roy and Alex Slanga each had 12 set assists and Meredith and Linden Sutton each finished with 10 kills.
Mesabi-East came to town on Monday, September 14 and the Vikings played their toughest competition to date, beating the Giants 25-7, 25-14, 16-25, 25-15, taking three out of four games against the Eagles.
Once again Meredith Sutton led the team with 13 kills, 18 digs, and 5 serve aces. Meredith’s sister, Linden Sutton, had 8 kills and 18 digs; Alex Slanga 5 ace serves; Raina Ryden 5 ace serves and Maddy Roy finished with 20 set assists.
Mesabi East’s Anna Ribich finished with 7 kills and 12 digs while Emma Erie had 13 digs and 13 set assists to lead the Giants.
Vikings beat Mountain Iron Buhl
Playing in its second home game in as many days, the Vikings took the court on Tuesday in front of their cheering fans and defeated the Mountain Iron-Buhl (MIB) Rangers 3 games to 0.
The Vikings were hitting on all cylinders in the first game, winning 25-14, but in the second game they were down 8-4 before reeling off 13 straight points to go up 17-8. Mesabi East battled hard for each point, but the Vikings’ strong front and back court play kept them at bay, and the Vikings won game two 25-10.
Game three was close throughout, with the score knotted at 19-19 before the Vikings used a series of soft misdirected balls on the front row for easy points (where they would normally spike the ball) and then to remind the Rangers of their power game, Meredith Sutton slammed a ball by the Giants front row for the 23rd point, putting an exclamation mark on the game as the Vikings cruised to the last two points and the victory.
Alex Slanga had a strong game serving, finishing with 5 ace serves and 11 set assists. Linden Sutton ended her night with 8 kills and 14 digs while Meredith finished with 16 digs and 10 kills.
Abby Schneider led MIB with 5 kills and 7 digs and Tatum Primeau had 4 kills and 8 digs.
Following the game Head Coach Pam Taylor said, “The girls are working well together on the court. Communication has been great which allows us to run a wide variety of different sets. This year we have depth in all areas, hitting, serving and passing.”
And, noted Taylor when asked about her team’s strong performance when serving the ball, “I am afraid to say anything about serving because every time I mention where to serve in a game it backfires on me and the girls miss. However, so far no one is serving under 80 percent for the season.”
The Vikings played their toughest competition of the year at press time on September 17 when they traveled to face the Esko Eskimos on the Eskimos chilly home court. On September 19 the team will travel to play in the Hill City tournament in Hill City and then come home on Tuesday, September 22 to play the Moose Lake/ Willow River Lakers. The varsity will take the floor at 6:30 p.m.
Come out and cheer on your Vikings!
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