Charlo falters against Lynx, trounces Noxon

NOXON — Charlo’s hot streak came to an end last Thursday with a disappointing 3-2 loss to Lincoln on Senior Night, but was able to get back on track with a road sweep over Noxon on Saturday.

NOXON — Charlo’s hot streak came to an end last Thursday with a disappointing 3-2 loss to Lincoln on Senior Night, but was able to get back on track with a road sweep over Noxon on Saturday.

Lady Vikings head coach Sheryl Kain said she is still struggling to determine the cause of her team’s inconsistent play against Lincoln, which came in sporting just a 3-9 record.

“We didn’t perform very well,” Kain said. “We all kind of fell apart at the same time. I am still disappointed and trying to figure it out.”

However, Kain is certain that poor communication was part of the problem Thursday, and said that it simply “wasn’t very good.”

She also noted that the team’s struggles were not brought upon by a single player nor a pair of players, but rather the team as a whole.

“It wasn’t any one individual [that affected the team],” Kain said. “When the team played well we did good, and when we did bad it was a team effort.”

The Lady Vikings did flash some of their typical high-level of play, but were not able to keep it up through the entire match.

Charlo captured the first set 25-14 before dropping the next two 25-21 and 25-23 respectively. They were able to send the match to a fifth game after taking the fourth 25-18, but came up short in the final set and lost 15-7.

Kain said back row player Jordan Ludeman was the “most consistent” of her players against the Lynx. She turned a team-high seven aces on the night.

Rachel Hoyt and Sienna Brown were the Lady Vikings’ top offensive weapons, turning in 13 and nine kills respectively.

Charlo came away from the match with 80 digs, including four players reaching double-digit totals in this category: Haley Berkram (19), Laura Reich (17), Hoyt (11) and Derika Stipe (10).

Stipe also accounted for 14 of the team’s 22 assists on the night.

Kain said she tried not to focus too much on the loss going into the Noxon match on Saturday.

“I didn’t go overkill on it,” Kain said. “I just told them that we’ve got to be prepared more for stuff like that, because it’s not going to get any easier.”

Charlo got off to a slow start against the Red Devils, just barely beating Noxon 25-23 in the first set. Something lit a fire under the players from that point forward, however, as the Lady Vikings made short work of their opponents in the next two games, winning 25-10 and 25-15 respectively.

“You can tell from the first game score that we weren’t really sure about what we were doing,” Kain said. “After that we decided to take control, so that was good to see.”

While the team’s ability to come together in the final sets pleased Kain, she still emphasized not “overlooking” teams and that they “have to stay focused the whole time.”

The Lady Vikings stellar serving played a big part in the team’s victory, as the team posted 21 aces in the match, led by Reich with seven and Berkram with six.

“I think the girls came up with their own strategy [serving],” Kain said. “I think they looked across the net and, unfortunately, picked on people, but picked on the right people.”

Hoyt again led the team’s offensive attack with nine kills in the match, but Brown and Reich were not far behind her with eight apiece. Hoyt also posted a team-high four blocks, while Brown had three.

Aspen Runkel topped all Lady Vikings players with eight digs on the night, while Stipe produced 18 assists to lead Charlo (14-4, 9-1).