Above: In perfect position, Anna Carman bumps the ball to a teammate. Carman was not only a heady player for the Vikings this fall, but was also one of the steadiest players game in and game out for her team. Far right: Going up high, Theresa Morrin blocked this spike attempt by a Cromwell player in the Vikings’ last game of the year. Right: Sarah Deschampe made some of the best digs ever seen by Viking fans in the game against Cromwell. Not the tallest player, Deschampe made great use of her quickness and was fearless in her play in the backcourt.
During the regular season the Vikings played Cromwell and won the match 3 games to 1, although the games were close.
Expectations then were high for the Vikings to beat the Cardinals a second time when they played each other at Cook County High School on Wednesday, October 24 to see who would advance to the Section 7A final.
Cromwell came out on fire taking a 10-2 lead before the Vikings started to tighten up their defense and gear up the offense. Slowly but surely the Vikings crept back into the game, and when the scores were knotted at 19-19, the action really started to heat up as each team fought for each point like it was the last point ever.
Finally the Vikings took the game 25-23 and led the best of five matches 1-0.
The second game was all Cromwell, although at one point the Vikings trailed only 12-9. However, it seemed like the Vikings couldn’t find any rhythm and lost 25-12.
With the match now tied 1-1 the Vikings needed to regroup.
Game three saw some great digs and great hitting from both teams. Sarah Deschampe took one ball that was half a centimeter off the floor and set up one of her teammates on what had to be the dig of the night. Ali Iverson and Linden Sutton each had some big kills in this game and Anna Carman, Theresa Morrin, Taylor Ryden, and Abbey Sutton made great plays throughout, but still the Vikings fell in a long, hard-fought game, 25-21.
Game four was a must-win game for the Vikings. At one time the ball went back and fourth over the net six times as each team bumped, set and spiked or dinked the ball three times each before Cromwell scored the point. In the end the game was won 25-23 by Cromwell and the Vikings season ended.
For the match Ali Iverson had 9 kills and 4 set assists. Theresa Morrin led the team with 23 digs and Abbey Sutton had 19 digs and 14 set assists. Taylor Ryden finished with 19 digs and Linden Sutton, just a freshman, had 8 kills and Jessica Berg-Collman had 11 set assists. Jessica’s first cousin Ann Collman finished with 6 kills and 11 digs for Cromwell.
The Vikings finished their season with a 14-6 record and placed third in the conference behind Carlton and Esko. Sitting in fourth and hot on their heels all year was, you guessed it, Cromwell.
Head Coach Pam Taylor said, “I just don’t think we were ready to play and Cromwell wanted a little revenge for us beating them earlier. They came raring and ready to go and we just didn’t play our best. But give them credit, they played very well.”
Taylor said that she was proud of her team for winning a Silver Academic award for its 3.7 grade point average, and said several other girls will receive awards after the state tournament is held.
“I can’t announce them until that time,” Taylor said.
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