Raina Ryden bumps the ball to her front line in a match against the Carlton Bulldogs. Head volleyball coach Pam Taylor asked Raina to come forward between games to receive a commemorative volleyball for recording her 1,000 set assists as a varsity player for the Vikings. Great job, Raina!
Fans filled the gymnasium on Thursday, October 5 to watch the top two teams in the conference compete to see who is playing the best volleyball at this juncture in the season. After this first meeting, the Vikings showed they are better than the Carlton Bulldogs, but the margin is thin.
Game one was tight. The Vikings ran their offense through senior outside hitter Meredith Sutton early, and Sutton smashed the ball past the Carlton defense repeatedly.
Still, the Bulldogs, who make few mistakes, hung close and were down 16-15 before the Vikings pushed to a four-point lead, 20-16. The Vikings pulled away going on a 5-1 run to seal the win 25-18.
It looked like the Vikings were going to win game two easily. Up 9-2, the offense and defense were in sync. Then Carlton dug in and kept long rallies going, finding the weak spots in the Vikings guard. Pretty soon the score was 11-11. The teams traded points until they were tied 22-22; Carlton reeled off three straight points to win 25-22.
If the first two games were exciting, game three was even more so. Trailing 24-20 with Meredith Sutton serving, the Viking scored six straight points to take the game 26-24. On the 26th point the gym exploded in cheers as fans rose to their feet to celebrate the Vikings, who made a most improbable run against a fine team.
The Vikings cruised to a 15-5 lead in the fourth game and seemed to have the game and match locked up. But Carlton fought all of the way back and trailed 23-21 as the Vikings started to make mistakes on balls that they usually return. Each team scored a point before Carlton’s server punched the ball long and the game ended with the Vikings up 25-22.
The Vikings won the three out of five matches 3-1, with three games separating the teams by three points or less.
Raina Ryden finished with 25 set assists and 20 digs. Head Coach Pam Taylor announced that Raina had gone over 1,000 set assists in her career, a tremendous milestone for any volleyball player.
Meredith Sutton had a great match, finishing with 29 kills and 25 digs. Abby Prom finished with 13 set assists, Sophie Eliasen had seven solo blocks and 15 digs, Reilly Wahlers had five solo blocks and 28 digs, and Alyssa Fenstad-Lashinski finished with six solo blocks and 16 digs.
Taylor Nelson had 15 kills, and Ally Hoeffling 8 kills to lead Carlton.
Vikings beat Floodwood
Floodwood came to Grand Marais on Monday, October 9, and the Vikings beat the Polar Bears three straight 25-23, 25-9, 25-12.
Alyssa Fenstad-Lashinski had 14 kills, six solo blocks, and four ace serves in the match. Sophie Eliasen finished with 12 digs, and four ace serves; Abby Prom had 13 set assists and 15 digs; Meredith Sutton 12 kills, and Raina Ryden finished with 17 set assists and 16 digs.
Vikings ruffle Wrens’ feathers
The Vikings traveled to Wrenshall on Tuesday, October 10 to play the Wrens and swept the pesky birds 25-10, 25-13, and 25-23.
Meredith Sutton led the team with 14 kills. Abby Prom had 17 set assists, and Alyssa Fenstad- Lashinski finished with 12 kills and five ace serves.
With this latest win, the Vikings are 9-0 in Polar League play and sit in first place among the 12 conference teams. The Vikings’ overall record is 16-5.
On Thursday, October 12 the Vikings played their last regular season game against Cromwell after the press deadline. Playoffs start the following week, but no seedings are available until the end of the regular season.
TEAM STATS TO DATE
. Meredith Sutton has recorded 314 digs, 35 total blocks, 34 ace serves, 300 kills and has a team-high .268 hitting percentage.
. Alyssa Fenstad-Lashinski has a .155 hitting percentage, 95 kills, 35 serving aces, 34 blocks and 191 digs.
. Reilly Wahlers has recorded 14 blocks, 232 digs, and 67 kills.
. Abby Prom has a team-high 252 assists and 33 serving aces.
. Sophie Eliasen has 21 assists, 50 kills, 21 serving aces, 240 digs and even though she’s all of five feet tall, she leads the team in total blocks with 44.
. Raina (Squirrel) Ryden has 10 total blocks, 241 digs, 206 assists, 13 kills and leads the team with 45 serving aces.
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