Charlo VB: THE SWAT TEAM

Charlo dominates VC with a strong hitting night, stays

unbeaten

CHARLO - Valley Christian ran into a buzzsaw last Thursday in the form of the Lady Vikings' incredible hitting. Earning 38 kills in the 3-0 sweep (25-7, 25-13, 25-15) while committing just seven errors.

"We were hitting the ball well," Charlo head coach Sheryl Kain said. "That was pretty amazing. We were doing everything right."

Led by 11 kills apiece by seniors Deondra Brown and Kinley Pope, Charlo methodically worked through Valley Christian in a match that lasted less than an hour. Rachel Hoyt also had 10 kills for the Lady Vikings.

Valley Christian could muster just nine kills, while Charlo out-dug the Lady Eagles 32-5, thanks to eight digs apiece by Pope and Kelsie Blevins.

Dawn Blevins led the Lady Vikings with 17 assists in the match and was also strong behind the "She can change where she wants to serve the ball," Kain said of Blevins. "She can pick where she wants to serve."

Kelsie Blevins and Hoyt also had two aces.

The win improved the Vikings to a 5-0 regular season record.

VS. NOXON

When Charlo got ready to host Noxon last Thursday, Sept. 1, at the CHS gym, they were missing something... the Noxon volleyball team.

A misunderstanding happened, and Noxon had thought that the game was on Friday, so both teams had to reschedule to Tuesday night, Sept. 6, in Charlo.

The Lady Vikings certainly took advantage of it.

"I was going to give the girls the day off on that Labor Day but with the rescheduling, we had practice on Monday," Kain said. "It does mess us up a little bit but maybe it's good to get game after game after game."

Charlo was dominant in the 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-18) win.

They were led by Dawn Blevins, who's apparently the Michael Jordan of volleyball, with 12 digs, nine assists, five aces and a block. Kinley Pope also had nine kills in the matchup.

The Lady Vikings were able to overcome the tough front line of Noxon, which outblocked Charlo 15-3.

"I told the girls that when you go up to the net, they're going to block it, so you need to really hit the ball," Kain said. "I think we played well against them."

The Lady Vikings had 21 kills to Noxon's 8.

DRUMMOND TOURNAMENT IN PHILLIPSBURG

The Charlo Lady Vikings had quite the marathon week, playing Noxon on Tuesday, Valley Christian on Thursday and then a full-day tournament on Saturday. They didn't back down though, making the semifinals of the tournament.

They started morning pool play by downing Lincoln 12- 3, 12-4, then split with Superior 8-12 and 12-11. The Lady Bobcats had recently just moved down from Class B to Class C.

"I felt good about the way we played Superior after not seeing them for two years," Kain said.

The Lady Vikings rounded out morning pool play with a 12-5, 12-6 sweep of Seeley Swan.

That set Charlo up for a first-round bye in the afternoon bracket play. However, they didn't get an easy matchup and ended up facing district and Mission Valley rival Arlee. True to the rivalry, the two teams went three games but the Lady Vikings prevailed 15-13, 9-15, 15-2.

Charlo would fall in the semifinal to Gardiner, the team that would go on to win the tournament, 5-15, 7-15.