Above: With the crowd going wild, Abbie Crawford jumps into Sophie Eliasen’s arms (and other teammates) after delivering the winning serve to the Barnum Bombers. Left: Sophie Eliasen displays some of her athleticism by making a great play on a hard hit ball. Staff photos/Laurie Johnson
The Cook County Viking volleyball team played some of their best volleyball of the year last week when they faced the Barnum Bombers at home on Thursday, Sept. 27 and beat the Bombers in three straight games, 25-18, 25-12, and 27-25.
Setting the tone early, the Vikings got off to an early lead in game one and held it, winning by seven points.
In the second game the Vikings pulled away from the Bombers early and kept their foot on the gas pedal the whole way. The Vikings were led by the strong serving of Sophie Eliasen and net play of Morgan Starkey. Alyssa Smith made several strong plays at the net on blocks and dinks over the net that surprised Barnum.
Libero Alyssa Spry handled the hard serves and spikes delivered by Barnum almost flawlessly in game two, and the Vikings won by 13 points in a runaway.
Maybe game two was too easy, or maybe the team let down and thought Barnum was going to quit playing altogether for game three. If so, those assumptions were incorrect because game three was a barnburner.
Barnum got off to a 4-0 lead before the Vikings rallied to knot the score at 4-4. The teams traded points often at the end of long rallies. Barnum started playing with a great deal of confidence and the Vikings had to play their best volleyball of the night to stay close.
Reilly Wahlers delivered a wicked spike for the Vikings’ sixth point and Sophie Eliasen followed with a big save on a wicked spike for the Vikings’ eighth point and the Vikings seemingly settled down, and slowly gained a five-point lead over Barnum.
Up 21-16, the Vikings seemed to be in command of the game. However, Barnum server Meghan Peaney couldn’t miss with her heavy and very hard-to-handle serves. She exploited any weakness she could find in the Viking defense with her wicked serves and she brought her team to a 24-22 lead and match point.
With the crowd behind them, the Vikings would rally to knot the score at 24-24 and 25-25 before scoring the last two points and taking the victory and the match. It was exciting volleyball by both teams to the final point.
Leading the Vikings was Emma Smith with 14 set assists. Morgan Starkey finished with 11 kills and nine digs. Alyssa Spry had 15 digs and Sophie Eliasen finished with five ace serves and six kills.
Two Harbors tourney
The Vikings traveled to play in the Sept. 29 tournament in Two Harbors and had a great time. In their first match the Vikings beat host Two Harbors Agates 25-17, 25-9.
Next, the Vikings played the Silver Bay Mariners and lost their first game 21-25. The Vikings beat the Mariners 25-7 in the second game and sunk the Mariners ship with a 15-4 victory to take the match.
Playing the championship match, the Vikings faced a tough, talented Proctor Rails team and lost 24-26, 8-25.
On Monday, October 1 the team traveled to North Woods to face the Grizzlies in a seesaw battle.
Thriller in North Woods
The Grizzlies won the first game 25-12 while the Vikings took the second game 25-14. Game three was almost a repeat of game one with the Vikings losing 25-15. The Vikings won game four 25-19 to set up an exciting game five.
Both teams fought hard for every point in game five and the Grizzlies won 15-13.
There were no stats for this game.
The Vikings’ next home game is against Lakeview Christian on Thursday, October 11. The game will start at 6:30 p.m. and it will be the last home game before the playoffs start. Come out and cheer for your Vikings!
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