Charlo suffers first loss in tournament opener

PABLO — Entering the 10-C district tournament last weekend, the Charlo volleyball team was the undefeated No. 1 seed.

Than came along the Arlee Scarlets.

In the Vikings first game of the tournament, Arlee was a handful and handed Charlo its first loss of the season, 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 16-25, 15-7.

 “They were disappointed, but not devastated,” head coach Sheryl Kain said of her team’s reaction to the loss. “They know they can play better than they did.”

In the back-and-forth set, Arlee capitalized on Charlo’s mistakes, as the Vikings had 92 digs.

Senior outside hitter Jaris Kelley had 14 kills and 20 digs while sophomore outside hitter Kinley Pope had 30 digs.

“Give Arlee credit,” Kain said. “They played really well. We made mistakes and they took advantage of it. I said at the beginning they are one of the teams to watch for. When they got their points, they earned them.”

The loss put Charlo in the lower bracket with Two Eagle River as their next opponent. A loss would send Charlo home, but the Vikings rallied to win in three 25-18, 25-13, 25-13. Sophomore Lindsey Merwin had seven aces.

Before their third game of the tournament, the Vikings got word that if they won, they would face Arlee.

Kain said if Charlo was angry about their loss, they took it out on Noxon. In another three-set win, Charlo didn’t allow Noxon to score more than 16 points in a set.

Kelly registered 12 kills and sophomore setter Dawn Blevins had 18 assists.

The win put Charlo up against Arlee in a redemption match for the Vikings.

“They wanted a chance to prove [Arlee] wasn’t going to do it again,” Kain said.

The loser would take third place and not advance to the divisional tournament.

“We came out on fire and off the bat got their kills, got their serves,” Kain said.

Arlee had their chances, but Charlo took the Scarlets out in three sets, 25-20, 25-15, 25-16.

Senior outside hitter Stephanie Maughan had three blocks and Kelley had 12 kills.

The Vikings went on to face Hot Springs in the championship match.

Charlo won the second and fourth matches to force a fifth set. With their game plan in place, the Vikings won 15-6, forcing a second championship match since the loss was Hot Springs’ first of the tournament.

In the game, Charlo won the first set before dropping the next two. Once again, the Vikings forced a critical fifth set with a lot on the line.

Charlo got up 11-8 but couldn’t score any more points.

“We hit a wall and couldn’t get through it,” Kain said.

Blevins had five blocks and 45 assists in the two matches and Kelley had 33 digs.

Six Vikings were named as all-conference selections. Kelley, Maughan and senior middle hitter Becky Jo Dumont were first-team all-conference selections. Senior outside hitter Alex Esterby was selected to the second team. Pope and Blevnis were selected as honorable mentions.

“I’m very happy with the all-conference selections,” Kain said.

This puts Charlo as the second seed for the Western C divisional tournament in Butte this weekend.

Kain doesn’t really know how divisionals will go, as she hasn’t seen all of the teams.

Charlo will open the tournament at Noon today against Gardner.

Kain has been reading up on her opponent and said they have any number of girls that can kill the ball.

“They are going to be a tough first round for us,” she said. “We are going to have to be on top of our game.”

Drummond is another threat in the upcoming tournament.

“It just depends what we have going on,” Kain said. “I think out girls are ready. You just go in and do what you do and capitalize on [your opponent’s] mistakes.”