Vikings outlast a tough Cromwell team

Sarah Fagerman and Taylor Ryden went up to successfully block the ball against a very tough Cromwell team last week. The Vikings won the match 3 games to 0 but every game went right down to the wire. The Vikings’ record is now 17-2 for the year.

The Cromwell Cardinals came to Cook County without a full roster after losing senior standout Marlene Wester to an elbow injury. The Vikings came in riding a nice 14-game winning streak with a pumped up homecoming crowd behind them.

The first game was an epic battle between two teams that were relentless getting to the ball. The game was tied at each score 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and then again at 16-24. The back and forth action was highlighted by a couple of net duels between senior MaKayleigh Cahoon and the Vikings’ junior Ali Iverson. A back-to back spike by Iverson and block by Cahoon was won by Iverson to put the Vikings up 24-23.

A misplay by the Vikings on an easy free ball tied it up, once again at 24. As a spectator, though, I could tell what was coming next. Viking senior Ashley Deschampe wasn’t happy with the misplay and you could see that wasn’t how the Vikings were going out. On back-to-back possessions, Deschampe rattled a spike off the Cardinal back row and the Vikings prevailed with a 26-24 win.

Bekah Laky worked out very hard during the off-season and all of her hard work has paid off handsomely for the Vikings as she has been rock steady (and sometimes spectacular) in her play for the Vikings this fall.

Game two started out much like the first, with the Cardinals taking a quick lead, only to see the Vikings come back and play the game tight the whole way. Cromwell was helped out by the struggling back row play of the Vikings, while Cook County kept getting spoon-fed missed serves by the Cardinals. In a game plagued by mistakes, the action was still intense and furious.

The Vikings couldn’t get things rolling at the net, with Lily Kemi, Jaime Bridge and the Cahoon sisters all doing a great job getting their hands on the Viking spikes. Likewise, Christina Stenson did a marvelous job as the libero and led the Cardinals in a great team effort of digging up everything the Vikes could hit at them.

The Vikings trailed in the second game 18-22 when they came storming back. A Sarah Fagerman block, one of many, got the Vikes going and they eventually tied it up at 24. With Bekah Laky serving an ace, the Vikings were only one point away from taking a huge 2-0 lead. Once again, they went to Deschampe to finish the job. A nice Taylor Ryden set fed Deschampe and she finished off the game with one of her game-high 14 kills.

In what felt like forever, the Vikings finally got off to a good start in a game. Being slow starters of late, the Vikings jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. Sophomore Anna Carmen pinpointed some serves, but the Cardinals seemed deflated, like a team that had traveled three hours and had lost by only 4 points in the first two games.

Senior Sarah Fagerman scored a couple of big blocks in the game and put on the finishing touch with a spike that found its way into the stands off a couple of Cardinals.

The 25-15 win gave the Vikings a sweep and advanced their record to 17-2, heading into the last regular season match at Two Harbors. Although the game ended in a sweep, the first two games were as close as the score indicated, which sometimes isn’t the case. The Cards came to battle and took a very strong, deep Viking team to the brink before the more experienced Vikings clutched up and finished things off.

The first playoff game for Viking volleyball will be Wednesday, October 26 at home at 7:00 p.m. The Vikings are ranked first in conference. Come on out and cheer on the Vikes!

Viking Scoreboard

Cook County defeats Cromwell 3-0