The Vikings celebrate their win at the Two Harbors Tournament earlier this month. The Vikings entered playoffs with a conference record of 7-3 and an impressive overall record of 17-5. (L-R, front) Samantha Jacobsen, Carly Puch, Chelsey Sorenson. (L-R, middle) Christina Nelson, Ashley Green, Kristina Rude, Ashley Deschampe, Bekah Laky. (L-R, back) Essa Jacobsen, Brea Boomer. (Not pictured – Linnea Leonard, Taryn Logan).
The Viking volleyball team finished its regular season with a home win against North Shore rivals, the Silver Bay Mariners, on October 22.
This was also senior’s night and the Vikings honored six of their team leaders: Carly Puch, Essa Jacobsen, Sammy Jacobsen, Ashley Green, Taryn Logan, and Christina Nelson. Coach Pam Taylor and the rest of the team gave them flowers and gifts and shared some memories with the fans about their beloved seniors.
Then it was on with the game versus the Mariners. Last time the Vikings played Silver Bay, the games were at Silver Bay and the Vikings came out winners. Tonight the Vikings were without Essa Jacobsen who recently had knee surgery to repair torn cartilage and Sammy Jacobsen was out with an abdominal muscle strain, so senior Ashley Green and junior Chelsey Sorenson were asked to step up and fill in.
In game one, the Vikings played poorly. It was almost as if someone else was in the Viking uniforms. The team just couldn’t get anything to go its way. This continued on into the second game. The Vikings were just plain out of sync. Theyalmost looked lost on the court.
Between the second and third game Coach Pam Taylor, who was not at all pleased with how her team was playing, gave them a talking to and tried to get them to re-group. In the first two games, the Vikings were missing serves and had a lot of miscues on plays they ran all season.
In the third game, the Vikings began to play better. Neither team was hitting very hard, but they had a lot of tipped balls. The Vikings had to fight for every point, as Silver Bay was not going to go down without a fight. Eventually the Vikes won the third game and it was on to a game four.
The Vikings were back to their style of play, finally, and had some great volleys. Their serves were starting to come around. TheVikings beat the Mariners and it was off to a fifth and deciding game.
Once again there were some great volleys as the teams battled, bringing fans to the edge of their seats. Voices were hoarse from cheering and fingernails were bitten way down, as the Vikings beat the Mariners in game four and the match.
Scores were 23-25, 26-28, 25-16, 25-11 and 15-13.
Leading the team in the win was Christina Nelson with 19 kills and 41 digs. Ashley Deschampe had 11 kills. Brea Boomer had 7 kills and 32 digs. Kristina Rude had 19 set assists and 30 digs and Carly Puch had 13 set assists and 20 digs. Also adding to the win was Bekah Laky with five set assists. Ashley Green, who had some big shoes to fill out there in place of Essa Jacobsen, played a good game at the net with one huge solo block and had six kills. Chelsey Sorenson filling in for Sammy Jacobsen in the Libero position had a busy night in the back row and did a good job.
The Vikings have been seeded #1 in the conference, with a conference record of 7-3. Theyare 17-5 overall.
At press time, the Vikings were hosting a playoff game at home on October 28 against Cotton. Good luck, Vikings!
Leave a Reply