Top: It seemed like half of the county travelled to Duluth to cheer on the Viking volleyball team on Saturday, November 7. Above: Assistant coaches Kelley Roberts (left) and Kasia Schmidt hug Head Coach Pam Taylor after the Vikings won the championship. Left: The Vikings huddled around Coach Taylor for instruction between games 3 and 4.
Phyllis and Pete Ryden came into the News-Herald last week to change the address for their newspaper. They wanted the paper sent to Florida as soon as possible.
“Ah, you know there’s a volleyball game on Wednesday and then, when the girls win, one on Saturday, right?” I asked.
“We talked a lot about that,” said Pete. “But we decided it was time to head out.”
Two of the Viking volleyball team’s biggest fans were going to miss two of the most important games ever played by a Cook County High School team. It was like hearing Santa was taking a year off from delivering Christmas presents.
As Pete talked, Phyllis was busy writing out the change of address. When she was done she looked up and said, “If the girls win and go to state I’m flying right back. I’m not missing that for anything!”
There was fire in Phyllis’s eyes and Pete’s head dropped.
At the Section Championship on Saturday, November 4, during Cook County’s first game against the Carlton Bulldogs, it looked like the Vikings’ shoes were glued to the floor and Carlton had super balls installed on the bottoms of their sneakers. Carlton led 6-1, then 14-3 before the sleepy Vikings rallied to score 7 of the next 11 points to get to 10. Carlton took the game 25-16, but at least the Vikings were finally fighting hard for every point and seemed to be finding their game. It was clear the glue was wearing off the soles of their shoes.
During the break between game 1 and game 2 Head Coach Pam Taylor didn’t hit the girls with a “Win one for the Gipper” speech. Instead, she said, “We just talked about relaxing, taking a deep breath, and playing our game.”
Game two didn’t start out any differently from game 1. The Vikings were down 4-1 before catching fire and running off 7 straight points to go up 8-4. The Vikings kept a 3-to 4-point lead until the score was 20-16. At that point the Vikings took 5 of the next 7 points to win 25-18 and tie the match at 1-1.
Pivotal as Game 3 was, win or lose, Carlton was not going to go away. Once again the Vikings were down by 4 points, 11-7, as Carlton fed its star Macy Belich an endless series of balls to hammer into the Vikings’ backcourt. Still, as well as Belich was spiking, the Vikings’ back row of Alex Slanga, Maddy Roy, Raina Ryden, Linden and Meredith Sutton started to adjust and return Belich’s thunderous hits.
At that point (11-7) the Vikings ran off 8 straight points to take a 15-11 lead. Carlton responded by scoring the next 4 out of 5 points to get to 16-15 before the Vikings once again ran off 7 points to 2 points for Carlton to take a 23-18 lead. The Vikings closed out Carlton 25-17 to set up the all-important Game 4.
Although the momentum was on their side, the Vikings once again found themselves in a hole. At one point the Vikings were down 15-7 and it looked like the match was going to a fifth game tiebreaker. But again the Vikings rallied. At one point Belich scored on a spike and then Meredith Sutton returned the favor. Again Belich scored on a smash and Meredith answered with a big spike. Finally Belich was quashed when Meredith picked three straight Belich smashes off of the floor and the Vikings finally won a long hard-fought point. The tide had turned and the Vikings were on fire. As the Vikings fought through long rallies for every point they began outscoring Carlton. The scores were Carlton 15-11, Carlton 17-15; Carlton 21-18, then Carlton 23-20.
At that point there was a sea change in attitude. It was palpable and Carlton players could feel it and see it. The Vikings’ fans (approximately 400) that travelled to the game were on their feet. They could see it and feel it. Although tired, the Vikings had that look in their eyes that this wasn’t going to go to a Game 5. And it didn’t.
The Vikings rallied for the next 5 points to win Game four 25-23 and punch its ticket to state. The final point came with Raina Ryden serving. After her serve was returned to her she bumped the ball over the net. Carlton set up a play for Belich who spiked it right into the waiting outstretched hands of Meredith Sutton. Sutton blocked the ball straight down and it fell untouched to the floor on Carlton’s side of the net.
The Vikings erupted in hugs, cheers, and yells of joy and tears of happiness in a victory celebration with parents and fans coming onto the floor in mass.
It is the first time a Viking volleyball team has qualified for the state tournament and ended a 33-year drought for Coach Pam Taylor who didn’t fight the tears that flowed following the match.
Was it worth the long wait? She was asked. “Yes, it was worth the wait,” she replied.
There was great play all around on this night with Meredith Sutton finishing with 17 kills and 5 blocks. Linden Sutton ended with 14 kills and 4 solo blocks; Lily Gruber-Schulz had 8 kills and 6 solo blocks; Emily Jacobsen 9 kills; Maddy Roy 26 set assists; Alex Slanga 19 set assists; and Raina Ryden, who seemed to be sliding across the court all night long fighting to make a save on a ball, finished with 34 digs.
Following the victory signs were posted throughout the county even before the Vikings arrived home congratulating them on their Section championship and making state. The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa also said it would send a fan bus every day to the three-day tournament that will be held in the Twin Cities on November 19-20.
The Vikings face(d) top-ranked Fairbault Bethlehem Academy on Thursday, November 12 at the Excel Energy Center after press time.
Bethlehem Academy, said Taylor, has been to the state tournament, “like the last 12 years, where they have finished first or second. They are a private school so they can recruit players. This year they have recruited two girls over 6 feet tall from Medford, Minnesota. ”
Win or lose, the Vikings will play on Friday either in the winners’ bracket or consolation bracket. If they win that match they will also play on Saturday. As of now their record is an impeccable 25-0.
And as for the Phyllis and Pete Ryden? On Wednesday, November 11, they had landed safely in the Twin Cities and they were looking forward to watching the Vikings play volleyball.
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