Lady Vikings sent packing by Lady Trojans in P-burg
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PHILIPSBURG — After a disappointing Saturday morning at the Philipsburg tournament, even a shower couldn’t wake up the Lady Vikings enough for them to get past Drummond.
After morning pool play, where Charlo went 3-3, the Lady Vikings had a long layoff before they started the afternoon’s bracket play. Charlo coach Sheryl Kain sent them to the showers, hoping that would give them a fresh start. It seemed to work in a three-set win over Seeley-Swan, but for the second straight tournament the Lady Vikings were sent home by the Lady Trojans after losing an error-filled match 15-9, 15-9.
“We played better, we just made a lot of dumb mistakes,” Kain said.
The Lady Vikings had eight hitting errors to match their eight kills, they had 14 passing errors and 11 digging errors. Kain said these errors are magnified, when you only go to 15.
It’s only their second tournament, but an alarming pattern is starting to emerge with the Lady Vikings at tournaments; they start slow and never can fully recover.
“It could be that they haven’t played together for too long. It could be we were missing a person from our rotation, or maybe they’re just not focused,” Kain said. “I hoping that it’s just because they haven’t played together and as they get more confident they’ll be at the right place.”
“It’s not like they didn’t make good plays. There were a lot of times I was sure the ball was going to hit the floor and somebody from the back row would step up and get it.”
The Lady Vikings started the tournament with a 12-10 loss to Sheridan before coming back for a 12-5 win in the second game. They dropped both games to Gardiner, losing 12-3,12-7. In the first game they fell behind 1-8, before they started to play.
“I think in a full game you never know, but when you only go to 12 you just don’t have time to comeback,” Kain said.
The Lady Vikings finished the morning pool play by breezing by Victor 12-2, 12-5 and then had to wait about two hours before playing the Lady Blackhawks. After losing the first game 17-15, they came back and took the next two 16-14, 15-12.
Kain said her team played a lot better in the afternoon, but their slow start still concerns her.
“It’s very disappointing, when you think about what you’re going to do at districts and what are you going to do at divisionals if you’re not ready to play in the morning,” Kain said. “You can’t afford to screw up in the morning.”
The Lady Vikings finished the tournament with 61 kills. Rachel Hoyt led the team with 24. Dawn Blevins had nine of the Lady Vikings 23 blocks and 38 of their 60 assists. Jasmine Hernandez-Kelley had a team-high 17 digs and Kelsie Blevins had four of their 12 aces.
The Lady Vikings started the week with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-6 conference win against the Lady Red Devils in Noxon Thursday.
Hoyt led the offensive charge for the Lady Vikings finishing with 10 of their 30 kills. Kinley Pope had eight kills and a match-high 12 digs. Jessica Foust and Dawn Blevins each had 10 digs apiece and Blevins also had a team-high 11 assists.
The Lady Vikings (4-0), host Two Eagle River Thursday and then travel to Philipsburg Friday.
Summary
Charlo def. Noxon
25-18, 25-18, 25-6
Kills - Charlo 30 (Rachel Hoyt 10), Noxon 20 (Jordyn Wilkinson 14). Blocks - Charlo 2 (Dawn Blevins, Kinley Pope), Noxon 8 (Wilkinson 5). Digs - Charlo 53 (Pope 12), Noxon 32 (Wilkinson and Chelby Smith 8). Assists - Charlo 19 (Blevins 11), Noxon n/a. Aces - Charlo 8 (Pope, Derika Stipe, Deondra Brown 2), Noxon 5 (Melanie Verdot 2, Shelby Clark 2).
Philipsburg Tournament
Pool play
Charlo splt. Sheridan
10-12, 12-5
Gardiner def. Charlo
3-12, 7-12
Charlo def. Victor
12-2, 12-5
Afternoon play
Charlo def. Seeley-Swan
15-17, 16-14, 15-12
Drummond def. Charl
9-15, 9-15
