As senior Maddy Roy (far right) made an announcement to the crowd on October 22, Lily Gruber-Schulz presented Head Coach Pam Taylor with flowers from the team before the last game of the season against Floodwood. (L-R) Hannah Toftey, Meredith Sutton, Sarah Toftey, Emily Jacobsen, Assistant Coach Kasia Schmidt, Taylor, and Assistant Coach Kelly Roberts.
After the seniors were introduced and received flowers and after the Floodwood lineup was introduced to polite applause, and after a moment of silence for the late Bernie Sadjak—a super fan of all Viking high school sports—and after the kids thanked their coaches and especially Head Coach Pam Taylor, it was finally, as Taylor announced, “Time to play some volleyball!”
In front of a packed house that stood often to cheer the girls on, Taylor started a senior lineup of Jordyn Deschampe, Linden Sutton, Alex Slanga, Lily Gruber-Schulz, Trace McQuatters and Madison Roy with seniors Sara Carman and Shauna Blake seeing a lot of action. The all-star senior lineup had little trouble with the Polar Bears, racing off to a 9-1 lead, building to a 17-5 lead before winning 25-13.
Linden Sutton scored the 25th point for the Vikings on a big spike.
Head Coach Pam Taylor put in a mix of young players with her older players in game two. Floodwood tied the score at 5-5 before the Vikings pulled away to a 21-12 lead and then a 25-17 victory. This time it was Meredith Sutton’s turn to score the 25th point, a booming spike.
Left: Hannah Toftey (3) received the serve and set the ball skyward with Meredith Sutton ready to bump it to the front line. Above: Emily Jacobsen didn’t take kindly to this ball invading Viking territory, spanking it hard across the net for a Viking point.
Coach Taylor inserted her varsity for the final game and it was truly a wipeout as the Vikings cruised to a 25-5 win. If not for a couple of Viking serves hitting the net or going long, the score could have been worse.
Maddy Roy served the last 10 points of the game, often finding the soft spot in the Polar Bear’s defense. Between her well-placed serves and the Vikings’ power game, the Polar Bears had no chance.
When the last three points were being played the Viking fans rose to their feet and cheered loud and long. Indeed, many people stayed after the end of the game for several minutes, continuing to cheer the team on.
Emily Jacobsen led the Vikings with 6 kills. Lily Gruber-Schulz had 5 kills and 4 ace serves. Meredith Sutton had 5 kills. Linden Sutton 5 kills and 11 digs; Raina Ryden 13 digs and Maddy Roy had 10 set assists.
The volleyball team finished the regular season 21-0 for the first in Vikings history.
Vikings beat McGregor in Round 2 of Sections
Due to the top seed, the Vikings received a bye in Round 1 of Section 7A playoffs. The Vikings played the second round against McGregor at press time on Wednesday, October 28 at home, sweeping the young Mercury team 25-12, 25-12, 25-10.
At one point in Game 3 the hustling Mercury squad actually led the Vikings 9-8, but the Blue and White outscored them 16-1 over the next few minutes in front of a gym filled with fans who were often on their feet rooting them on.
Leading the way for the home team was senior Lily Gruber-Schulz with 4 kills, 5 solo blocks, 14 digs, and 4 ace serves. Sophomore Raina Ryden had 6 kills and 3 solo blocks, Junior Emily Jacobsen had 5 kills, Junior Tarin Hanson had 5 set assists, Senior Alex Slanga had 7 set assists and Senior Madison (Maddy) Roy had 11 set assists.
The News-Herald will have a full report on that game next week.
Following their win, the Vikings face the Wrenshall Wrens at home at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 30.
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