Lady Vikings v-ballers split with St. Regis, Plains prepare for the second half of the season
<p>CHARLO HIGH SCHOOL player Kaitlin Cox attempts a kill against St. Regis’s defense Thursday night at Charlo High School. The Lady Vikings’ wore pink uniforms for Breast Cancer Awareness month in Oct. </p>
<p>CHARLO HIGH School volleyball player Taylor Olsen attempts a kill in Thursday’s match against St. Regis at Charlo High School. The Lady Vikings wore pink jerseys to aknowledge Breast Cancer Awareness Month. </p>
<p>CHARLO HIGH SCHOOL player Teaira Truman (left) and Brooklyn Foust (right) attempt a block against St. Regis’s defense Thursday night at Charlo High School.</p>
CHARLO — The Charlo Lady Vikings have split their last two contests against St. Regis and Plains hosting the matches Thursday and Saturday at Charlo High School.
The Lady Vikings’ lost in four to a scrappy St. Regis team 20-25, 19-25, 28-26, 21-25.
“They were out to beat Charlo for sure,” Lady Vikings’ Coach Cammie Evenson said. “I went and watched the teams play other teams. When they come to play us, I don’t know if it is because we were undefeated in the conference last year or something else, but I know a lot of teams step up to play Charlo and it’s good for us to lose against St. Regis. The loss was something that we needed to experience and drawing book to come and something that went the same with our offense and defense (in the match against Plains) and we can use that to our benefit.”
Because of the tallest player on Charlo standing at 5-foot-7, Evenson has shuffled several different looks defensively to give her players multiple perspectives on the court. Evenson has played her team in a 5-1, 4-2, and 6-2.
“Thursday night after the game, it came to me at about three in the morning,” Evenson said. “We had to come up with something that would work for the Charlo girls. Our team will have five girls that play every position.”
Evenson said she is “pleased” with her team’s progress in their vertical leap program.
“We did our vertical leap program the first week of practice and we did our measurements Monday,” Evenson said. “Several of our girls improved their vertical leap by four inches. That was pretty cool and that is something that we knew we had to work on. We have taken a half hour out of every practice (to work on our vertical leap) and hope that is really pays off come districts. We are excited about that. It helps when you’re jumping as high as the other teams’ taller players and it is a real confidence booster to our team. Seriously, these girls have worked pretty hard to increase their verticals.”
Evenson said she felt the little areas in volleyball will pay off as her team approaches playoff time.
“It’s funny, we talk about how volleyball is a give of feet and inches all of the time,” Evenson said. “It’s important to put an emphasis on the technical stuff that plays into volleyball.”
Cheyenne Nagy had 18 kills, Allie Delaney had 35 digs, and Sakoya Gaustad and Brooklyn Foust finished with four blocks each. Kaitlin Cox had four aces and Teaira Truman had 34 assists.
The Lady Vikings made some adjustments in the other key conference showdown defeating Plains 21-25, 25-15, 12-25, 25-14, 16-14.
“We worked with changing defenses on Friday and one hour before the Plains match we changed our look.” Evenson said. “We hadn’t practiced it and our kids were up for the challenge because now they are used to playing so many different positions. Our kids really understand the game from different perspectives and positions, and are now willing to try anything.”
Kaitlin Cox dished up nine aces, Sakoya Gaustad had eight blocks, Allie Delayne finished with 29 digs, and Teaira Truman had 17 assists. Cox and Nagy had 13 kills each.
Maidens fall to Copperheads in four
The Ronan Maidens volleyball team lost its match to Anaconda in four sets (21-25, 25-23, 25-13, 29-27) Tuesday at Ronan High School.
“The last game was a pretty exciting third game,” Maidens’ Coach Charla Lake said. “Lee Camel ran into the bleachers to pass a ball and keep us alive, and Shaina Snyder always pulls out some amazing saves. We just struggled to finish and put the ball away. We dug ourselves out of a hole but we just couldn’t climb out of it completely. They battled hard at the end but it just wasn’t soon enough.”
Lee Camel and Sadie Wirz finished with 35 digs each. Camel and Reagan Clairmont finished with a block. Camel also had 22 kills. Wirz had three aces and setter Shaina Snyder finished with 14 assists.
The Maidens also lost to Florence and the Copperheads on Oct. 2. They lost to Florence 18-25, 13-24, 4-25. Lee Camel led the Maidens with five kills. Alicia Camel, Sadie Wirz, Shaina Snyder, and Lee Camel all finished the match with an ace. Lee Camel had a block. Snyder and Gabby Wirz finished with two assists. Gabby and Sadie Wirz each had seven digs each in the loss.
Against the Copperheads, the Maidens lost 17-25, 9-25, 25-22, 24-26. Alicia Camel had eight kills, Shaina Snyder had three aces, Lee Camel had five blocks, Snyder had eight assists, and Lee Camel finished with 26 digs.