Above: Senior outside hitter Linden Sutton also plays a mean back row. Here she goes low to bump a serve to her front line in the game played against Wrenshall.
The 23-0 Vikings are only two wins away from making their first appearance at state following a 3-1 win over Wrenshall in a Section 7A match played at home on Friday, October 30.
Standing in their way are Mountain Iron-Buhl (MIB), who the Vikings play at press time on Wednesday, November 4 in Hibbing, and the winner of the Cherry/Carlton match, should the Vikings get past the 16-12 MIB team. The Vikings defeated Carlton 3-0 earlier in the year and also beat MIB on September 15 at home 25-14, 25-10, 25-20, but haven’t faced Cherry this year.
Playing in front of a packed house, the Vikings got off to a dominant start against the Wrens, winning the first game 25-10. But anyone who has been following the Vikings knew that Wrenshall gave the Vikings a tough test at their home gym in a match on October 13. The Vikings left that night with a 3-1 white knuckle win, with most games coming down to the wire.
So it wasn’t too much of a surprise when Wrenshall rebounded in the second game, coming back to win 25-22. This game was filled with a lot of great saves on hard hit balls by both teams, and many of the points came on clever hits— gentle taps over the front lines of both teams who were trying to block each other’s big hitters.
Above: Senior Maddy Roy made a great play on this spike in the Section 7A semi-final game against the Wrens. Left: Junior Tarin Hanson made a nice set assist on this ball.
The Wrens were just a little bit better at this point and the Vikings looked a bit unsettled on the court, which contributed to some momentary lapses as balls fell to the court floor uncontested at times. During the two-minute break Head Coach Pam Taylor got her team to refocus and get back to the business at hand.
Game three was exciting as both teams matched points and played evenly until Cook County pushed to an 18-15 lead. At that time the pressure seemed to get to the Wren servers, who on three out of four serves hit into the net to give the Vikings easy points. The Vikings won 25-18, setting up a do-or-die game for the Wrens.
There was little doubt the Vikings were going to let the Wrens into this game. On one bam-bam play, Meredith Sutton hit a smash that was somehow returned over the net off a Wrenshall player’s fist. As soon as the ball came back over the net Linden Sutton put an exclamation point on the play, sending the ball into the Wrens’ court with alarming velocity.
Maddy Roy also fooled everyone when she took a quick bump, looking at Meredith Sutton while she seemed to get ready to set the ball to her. Instead she took the bump and instantly sent it over the net as the Wren players were getting into position to defend a spike by Meredith. It caught everyone—fans alike—by surprise. Just a great heads up play.
While many of the points were hard fought, the Vikings took a 25-16 win and the match to send a young, talented, tearful Wren team home. With only four seniors and a young returning squad, this team will be good for the next few years.
Meredith Sutton had a big night for the Vikings recording 18 kills, 21 digs and 6 solo blocks. Raina Ryden finished with 24 digs, Lily- Gruber-Schulz had 20 digs and 6 kills, Maddy Roy 23 set assists and Linden Sutton had 9 kills and 9 solo blocks.
During a break between games the team locked arms in unity and gathered around Coach Taylor (just out of the picture) to hear her words of encouragement and coaching instructions.
Wrenshall’s Paige Johnson had 12 set assists and served 100 percent (15-15) from the line. Delaney Kittel had 9 set assists and didn’t miss on a serve, also going 15-15, and Tatum Swanson finished with 13 kills. Vikings advance to Section championship
When a game is in doubt, Viking setters often look to their tall front line of Lily Gruber- Schulz, Emily Jacobsen, Linden Sutton or Meredith Sutton to make a big play and set the Vikings back on course to win. That was evident once again as the big hitters came through for their stellar teammates— Maddy Roy, Raina Ryden, Trace McQuatters, Tarin Hanson, Alex Slanga, Shauna Blake, Sara Carman, Sarah Toftey and Jordyn Deschampe. All making several big spikes at key moments to hold off a pesky Mountain Iron-Buhl (MIB) team in a Section 7A semifinal game played Wednesday, November 4 in Hibbing.
The Vikings won the first game 25-15 but MIB came back strong in the second, pushing the Vikings who had to dig deep to win 26-24.
Despite not serving their best in game three, the Vikings were too strong at the net and won going away 25-15 to take the match and advance to the Section 7A championships.
Meredith and Linden Sutton each finished with 10 kills for the game. Head coach Pam Taylor said she wouldn’t have the full stats available until after the paper had been put to bed.
The win over MIB pushed the Viking record to 24-0 and sets up a Section 7A championship match against Carlton who beat Cherry 3-0 on Wednesday night. Carlton is led by Macy Belich who finished with 16 kills in the Bulldogs’ 7A semifinal win over Cherry. The Vikings defeated Carlton 3-0 at home earlier in the year.
After the News-Herald went to press, the Vikings faced Carlton on Saturday, November 7 at Duluth Denfeld in a game that started at 4 p.m.
Leave a Reply