Cook County faced Wrenshall with a vengeance on Thursday, September 23, easily defeating the Wrens before an enthusiastic home crowd. Left: Viking teamwork was in evidence as Kristina Rude and Brea Boomer work together to block a Wrenshall ball, with Bekah Laky ready to back them up. Above left: Linnea Leonard rolled 10 straight service points to finish off the Wrens. Above right: Junior Sarah Fagerman hits an unstoppable spike into Wrens’ territory.
The Cook County Vikings faced their toughest opponent of the year so far, when they could not overcome the assortment of mental mistakes made by themselves. The Vikes suffered their first loss of the season, beating themselves with missed serves and miscommunication. The Carlton Bulldogs came into Grand Marais with a respectable 4-3 record, but with no losses to Polar League or Section 7A teams, the Vikings knew they would have a battle with one of the area’s best teams.
The Vikings got off to a rare good start, playing the Bulldogs even through the teens before taking charge at the end of the game. Sophomore Theresa Morrin ended the game with a smash in the center of the court to give the Vikings a big 25-23 win. Game two started out the same, with the Vikings playing well enough to stay in the game, but it ended when the Vikings missed a serve and the Bulldogs converted their last serve for a 19-25 Viking loss. Thegame was marred by many Bulldog volleys landing on the Vikings’ side of the court and misplays because of lack of communication.
Tied at 1 game apiece, things went from bad to worse for the Vikings. The Vikes fell behind quickly 6-17 before Junior Ashley Deschampe took to serving and rattled off 10 straight points to bring the girls within 1, but Carlton sophomore phenom Clarissa Nelson tipped a ball into a hole and then served the next 7 points to give the Bulldogs an impressive 25-16 win. Nelson picked up where she left off, leading the Dogs to a quick lead in game 4, wreaking havoc at the net. She wasn’t overpowering with her hitting, but she was precise with her tips and got her hands on nearly every Viking spike. The Vikings couldn’t get anything going, losing 17-25 in a very lackluster performance.
TheVikings did not have to wait long for redemption with the Wrenshall Wrens coming in for a Thursday face-off.The Vikings played like a team with some anger, taking care of the Wrens in three, 25-7, 25-10, 25-14. TheWrens came in with a very young, inexperienced team and it showed right away as they had trouble handling the Viking serves. As other teams discovered, the most difficult to handle was Ashley Deschampe’s, with “Dish” closing out the game on a 10-point serving streak.
Game two was highlighted by the six Cook County seniors playing the entire game together. Jennifer Curtis tallied 2 kills while Autumn Clearwater-Day placed a pinpoint kill in the corner to get the crowd to their feet. Linnea Leonard rolled 10 straight service points to finish off the Wrens. A whole different lineup of underclassmen took the floor for the third and final game. Led by Bekah Laky’s sets, the youngsters looked good in closing out the game. It was a good opportunity for Coach Taylor to get some valuable varsity experience for some of the younger Vikings.
The Vikings finished off a busy week with a three-game tournament in Hill City. The Vikings came out with some intensity, taking care of business in beating Isle 25-15, 25-21 (in tournaments, teams play best of three). Brea Boomer led the Vikings with many service points and Deschampe hammered home many kills against the overmatched Isle club. The next games pitted the Vikings against Hill City 2 and then Hill City 1 in the championship. The first match was swept by the Vikings, while the championship match took three games. The Vikings looked good in winning the tournament and showing the dominance that they started the year with.
Coach Taylor hopes it will be the jump start the team needed after a stretch of ho-hum volleyball. The Vikings are now 10-1, the best start for a Cook County Volleyball team in many years. The busy Vikings finally have a slow week, with only one game, albeit a big one, in Barnum on the 30th, before coming home for four straight, including an October 5 game vs. Silver Bay and a showdown against the McGregor Mercs on Thursday, October 7.
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