Abby Sutton exhorted Teresa Morrrin to “dig” the ball before it hit the floor. Morrin was successful on this play and helped the Vikings beat the Mesabi East Giants 3-0. The Vikings next home game is October 4 against Barnum. The game starts at 6:30 p.m.
The Cook County Vikings were coming off their first loss of the season, to Esko, when they traveled to Floodwood for another Polar League match-up. What ensued, between the rivals, was a match of epic proportions.
The Polar Bears jumped out quickly to a nice lead, using a couple of Viking mistakes at the serving stripe to take charge. The Vikings picked it up, though, and in the end pulled out the scrappy 26-24 win. The Vikings followed suit in game 2, winning 25-18, behind the strong hitting of Ashley “Dish” Deschampe. Bekah Laky and Dish were in sync as they teamed up for many of the Viking points.
For some reason that’s unknown to Coach Pam Taylor, the Vikings stopped communicating in the next couple of games. Balls were dropping to the court in between players and Molli Durovec picked up her game at the net to lead the Polar Bears to a 25-22 game 3 victory and another close victory in game 4 at 25-23.
The Vikings regrouped in the final game to take a big 9-2 lead, before Floodwood used a timely time out. The Polar Bears came out strong and refocused and jumped on the Vikings, especially Durovec, who placed tips all over the court to tighten the score. Tied at 15, a Durovec block gave the Bears their first lead of the 5th game. Deschampe responded with a kill of her own, her 29th of the night. But Floodwood scored the next two points, with the final point being an ace serve that landed between two Vikings. Two exhausted teams and a worn out gym of spectators left that night knowing they had seen something special.
Sarah Fagerman went up high to slam this ball while Ashley Deschampe (5) and Abby Sutton (7) looked on.
Coach Taylor lamented on the night a few days later. She pointed out that they were playing their first game without injured setter Taylor Ryden, although she was baffled by the lack of communication. She said, “Yeah, we missed Taylor and we’ll have to work some things out. But, on the other hand, we had that game if we had just cleaned some things up. We have the talent to do it, we just have to get it done.”
Rachel Wieben took a return serve, bumping it and setting up her teammates. Wieben, like the rest of her teammates, played well in the game against Mesabi East on Monday, September 19.
Speaking of a couple of great performances she said, “Bekah and Dish played pretty good. Dish got a lot of opportunities, in the range of 50 sets, but getting 29 kills hasn’t happened in a long time around here. But, although the numbers are high, remember it was five games. These two have been doing this all year, it’s just our games have been over in three.”
The Vikings got the opportunity to bounce back when the Mesabi East Giants came to town for a Section 7A battle. It wasn’t really like David and Goliath, because in this sense it was the Giants who were the underdogs, but it was a rematch of the previous Friday’s football game, which saw the Vikings pound the Giants on the turf. It would be similar on the hardwood, where the Vikings took control right away and never let up.
Junior Teresa Morrin started the Vikings rolling, lasering serves over the net at the Giants, who had struggles all night defending the Vikings’ service attack. A nice lead was maintained by the great backcourt play of libero CeCe Olson and Anna Carmen. Not only were they covering the court well, but they were feeding Laky and sophomore Abby Sutton the ball in spots where they could handle it. Morrin, Sarah Fagerman, and Ali Iverson did a great job at the net, not pounding the ball, but putting it where they weren’t, leading the Vikes to a 25-18 win.
Game two played out in similar fashion, with the Vikings jumping out to an insurmountable lead with nice serves. This time it was junior Rachel Wieben doing the work behind the stripe while Deschampe caught fire at the net, hammering the ball off of the defenseless Giants. In the third and final game, both teams went through the motions as the outcome was never in doubt. Twin 25-15 wins finished off the Giants and finished off the game.
Deschampe led the Vikings with 10 kills, while Iverson chipped in 8, Morrin 6, and Fagerman 5 to round out a balanced attack. Laky led the Vikes with 15 set assists and 13 digs. The win moves the record to 3-2, with a very busy week ahead. The Vikings have two more away games this week before ending with a tournament in Hill City on Saturday.
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