Lady Vikings bump Noxon, Hot Springs

CHARLO — The Lady Vikings were able to pick up two District 10-C victories at home this past week, beating Noxon 3-1 on Thursday and Hot Springs 3-0 on Saturday.

CHARLO — The Lady Vikings were able to pick up two District 10-C victories at home this past week, beating Noxon 3-1 on Thursday and Hot Springs 3-0 on Saturday.

Despite the wins, Charlo head coach Sheryl Kain believes her team still has much to improve on after watching her team get off to slow starts in both matches.

“I don’t think we’re quite ready to play,” Kain said.

On Thursday, the Lady Vikings fell to Noxon in the opening set 25-16, but were able to bounce back and take the next three games 26-24, 25-18 and 25-23 to put away the Red Devils.

Kain said Noxon made it tough for the her team, impressing her with their hustle and determination.

“Noxon was really scrappy,” Kain said. “They saved balls that I didn’t think they had a chance at saving. Whenever they took a stab at it, it always seemed like it went to a player that could get it over the net.”

While she wasn’t as happy with how her team played overall, she was pleased to see them rally after a poor start and loss.

“We dropped that first game and then came back,” Kain said. “It wasn’t awesome, but we came back and actually didn’t do too bad, so that was a lot better.”

Jordan Ludeman paced Charlo in digs (18) and aces (four) in the match, while Laura Reich led the way in kills with eight and continues to be a bright spot for the team.

Aspen Runkel has been a consistent performer as well and led the team in blocks with six on the night while also tallying seven kills.

Derika Stipe seems to be settling into her role as setter nicely, picking up a team-high 14 assists against the Red Devils.

In the Hot Springs match on Saturday, the Lady Vikings failed to separate themselves from their opponents as much Kain expected them to.

“I don’t know if it was them playing well or us not playing well,” Kain said. “I know I wasn’t very impressed with our play.”

Kain said this was by no means a knock on Hot Springs, which is greatly undermanned with just seven players on the team, and was in fact impressed with how the team played against Charlo.

“They actually played really good and were right with us,” Kain said.

The Lady Vikings were able to sneak by in the first two games, winning 25-20 and 25-23.

In the third set, however, the Lady Vikings left no doubt as to who the better team was on the court, shutting down Hot Springs 25-6.

Kain said the team finally showed what they could do when they are all playing on the same level and working together as a unit. 

“In the third game, it was like we started getting it put together,” Kain said. “We were talking and moving and hitting. It was like we all of a sudden decided to play volleyball and not just try to get by.”

She expects the team to maintain this trend as the season progresses until they will be able to do it on a consistent week-to-week basis.

“I think with every game it will continue to get better,” Kain said. “I think they’re starting to trust each other and get used to each other. It’s improving every game, so that’s good.”

Reich was on top of her game as usual for Charlo in the match, posting team-bests in kills (11) and digs (14). 

Runkel led in blocks once again with two and came away with 10 digs, while Stipe accounted for nine assists on the night.

Haley Berkram had eight assists in the match as well.

Rachel Hoyt, who Kain said was slightly off the past two games, notched two aces to lead the team in the match.

Charlo now enters a string of four-straight road games, something that Kain said shouldn’t affect the players too much.

“I don’t know that it changes the dynamics all that much,” Kain said. “We have pretty good crowd that follows us, so sometimes our crowd isn’t that different.”

Kain said she just hopes her players will be focused on other things headed into the games.

“You can’t let it bother you too much, because if you do, it’s all you’re thinking about instead of seeing it as just another volleyball match,” Kain said.