Left: With Alyssa Lashinski (No. 13) ready to make a play, Emily Jacobsen went up high to block this ball back into the Wrenshall Wren court in the Vikings’ 3-0 win over the Wrens. Top: Backcourt specialist Raina Ryden contorts her body to bump the ball. Above: Hannah Borson gets ready to take a ball off of the floor.
The Vikings faced Lions and Panthers and Wrens at home this week but despite the perilous sounding competition, they came away with nary a scratch, a bad bite, a wicked peck, or a loss.
Junior outside hitter Meredith Sutton led the Vikings to a clean sweep of the Southridge Panthers on Thursday, September 22 with 16 kills and 17 digs in the Vikings’ 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-6) win over the Panthers.
Tarin Hanson finished with 18 set assists and Reilly Wahlers had 13 digs for the Vikings.
Mariah Janke led Southridge with 10 kills and two ace serves while Lily Price (10 digs) and Ceilia Olesiak (6 kills and 11 digs) were also top players for the Panthers.
Vikings defeat Wrenshall
In nature Wrens eat spiders. Wrens eat beetles. Wrens eat caterpillars. Wrens, it seems, love to eat bugs. Wrens, however, do not eat volleyballs. Neither do the Wrenshall Wrens, who got fed a steady diet of smoking hot spikes served by the merciless Viking junior outside hitter Meredith Sutton on Monday, September 26 in a game played at home. Sutton ended her night with 19 kills to lead her team to another three-game sweep over a gritty but young Wrenshall team. The Vikings won 25-14, 25-21, and 25-18.
Head Coach Pam Taylor played her entire varsity, with most of the team receiving quite a bit of playing time.
Every time Southridge would rally the Vikings set up a play for their version of the Sultan of Swat, Meredith Sutton. During the second set when the game was tied at 15-15, Sutton crushed the next ball into the Panthers’ side, the ball careening off one of the Panther players and bouncing high into the air and ending up in the last row of the bleachers. The Vikings scored their 17th point on a Panther misshit and then Sutton, who was fed perfectly at the net, once again spanked the ball into an open spot on the Panthers’ side of the court to give the Vikings an 18-15 lead. It was a lead the Vikings never relinquished.
Tarin Hanson had another great game, finishing with 22 set assists and Raina Ryden had 20 digs for the night.
Wrenshall’s Ashley Johnson finished with nine digs and was 10 of 10 on her serves and Cheyanne Carlson had three ace serves and nine kills for the Wrens.
Vikings beat Lakeview Academy
Viking fans were treated to two straight evenings of entertaining volleyball when the Lakeview Christian Academy Lions came to town on Tuesday night. The Vikings tamed the Lions with great overall team play, taking the match in three games 25-11, 25-8, and 25-15.
Early on Emily Jacobsen made some nice blocks at the net and Alyssa Lashinski also played well at the net, recording several big spikes. The Vikings also received some good serving from Sarah and Hannah Toftey, as well as Raina Ryden and Mariah Deschampe. Overall the Vikings were too quick, too disciplined and too skilled for their Lakeview opponents who gave a good, spirited effort on the court.
Meredith Sutton finished with 18 kills, Tarin Hanson 19 set assists and Raina Ryden had 22 digs.
Lauren Bonin led Lakeview with four kills and Phoebe Hunter had seven set assists for the Lions.
The Vikings’ record is now 10-3 for the season.
The Vikings’ next home game is Thursday, October 6 against McGregor. The varsity will start play at 6:30 p.m.
Come out and cheer on your Vikings!
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