Lady Vikings dig deep to defend record

CHARLO — Going into the third set against Mission, the Charlo volleyball team was on the edge of losing its first game of the season.

But, the Vikings came back from a two-set deficit to win 23-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-21, 15-3.

“In the beginning, I didn’t believe that we were going to come back at all because, for four years, we haven’t been able to do that,” senior outside hitter Jaris Kelley said. “We’ve done that before where we’ve lost two games and we’ve never been able to come back like that. That was amazing.”

In the first, senior outside hitter Alex Esterby hit a barely-fair ball and an ace to put the Vikings up by one. Mission battled back to a 19-16 lead before Kelley hit two kills, but the Bulldogs held strong for the set win.

Once again, Charlo held a two point lead, but soon found themselves down 3-8. Kelley and sophomore setter Dawn Blevins blocked for a point and sophomore middle hitter Kinley Pope made a kill to bring Charlo within two points.

Senior middle hitter Becky Jo Dumont blocked, then served her first of five aces on the night to bring the score to 17-19.

The Vikings kept putting forth effort. On the next point, senior setter Stephanie Maughan found herself in the net and Esterby was laid out in the stands.

Charlo won the point but not the match.

Going into the third set, Charlo was in a place its never been before: down two games to none.

Charlo started with the lead and gave it up to a 5-8 score.

After a long rally and Charlo point, Maughan, Esterby and Kelley threw down kills to bring the game to 13-18. Maughan served an ace and Kelley and Esterby put down two more kills before Blevins blocked and recovered the ball for a point. Blevins ended the night with five blocks.

Pope and Esterby marked two kills to bring the game to a 23-point tie. Charlo dug deep and avoided elimination with a third-set win.

It never looked back.

The fourth set saw Charlo up by four points, but Mission wasn’t giving up.

The Vikings were unable to hold the lead by more than one point before Dumont hit the ball over two Mission blockers for a point and momentum shift.

Kelley notched two more hard hits and Blevins served for Charlo’s fourth-set win, forcing a fifth set to decide if Charlo would keep its perfect record.

The Vikings came out ready, earning an 11-point lead. Kelley had an ace and kill as Charlo ended the fifth set quickly, allowing only three points from Mission.

A new rotation led to the Vikings’ scrambling in the first two sets but communication brought them wins in the next three.

“We had a new rotation, so we only got to work on that once or twice in practice,” Kelley said. “We were having difficulty there. After two [sets], we stuck it out and got our heads in the game.”

The team also responded to the emotions of their head coach.

“Our coach, she really helped us a lot,” Kelley said. “When she gets mad, we want to do better.”

Pope ended with 21 digs and Kelley had 17 kills.

 “I’m really glad that we came back and we can show people that we can do that,” Kelley said.

After the emotional win, the Vikings beat Alberton in three sets last Friday 25-14, 25-7, 25-12.

Following a big match, head coach Sheryl Kain said she worried her team wouldn’t have their heads in the next game.

“We did,” she said. “

Dumont had seven kills, Kelley had seven digs and Blevins had 15 assists. Charlo is now 15-0 on the season.

“They wanted to show that they could play better than the last time Alberton saw them,” she said. “These last two matches were a good finish to the regular season. Hopefully the intensity and drive to win will carry through tournaments.”

Charlo will play in their district tournament this weekend at Two Eagle River.