Facing one of the top teams in Section 7A for the third match in a row, the International Falls volleyball team stayed close with Cherry on Thursday night in the FHS gym.

However, the Broncos came out on the losing end for the third straight time by dropping the match to the Tigers in four games, 15-25, 18-25, 25-17, 23-25.

“We won the third game (and) we battled hard in the fourth,” said Falls head coach Erin Shikowsky. “It would have been nice to have won that one and take it to a fifth and deciding set. I thought I saw a lot of great things on our side of the court (Thursday night), so I’m pretty happy with our play.”

The Broncos held leads early in the first two games before Cherry took control later on to win. The Falls led from start to finish in game three. The lead changed hands with several ties in the fourth game before the Tigers won by two.

The Broncos had been coming off being swept last week by Littlefork-Big Falls in the L-BF gym and then lost in three straight games at home Tuesday to North Woods before Thursday night’s match against the Tigers, which Shikowsky said was the best the Falls played against those three Section 7A opponents.

“I felt like we came together a little bit (Thursday night) as a team,” she said. “We blocked, we had some offense, we played with a little bit of confidence, and that’s what we’re striving for in this part of the season.”

The Broncos’ statistical leaders included: Tessa Walls, 11 kills, three ace blocks, five digs, one ace serve; Hailey Fentem, six kills, two ace blocks; McKenna Rasmussen, five kills, six ace blocks, 15 digs; Maddie Filipiak, five kills, two ace blocks, 11 digs, one ace serve; Teagan Anderson, 21 set assists, 11 digs, one ace serve; and Clara Palm, 10 digs, one ace serve.

The Falls, which now has a season record of 1-4, will be back in action Tuesday to host Eveleth-Gilbert.

L-BF sweeps Northland

The Littlefork-Big Falls volleyball team improved its season match record to 4-1 on Thursday night by winning three straight games at home against Northland, 25-9, 25-13, 25-12.

The Vikings’ statistical leaders included: Abby Thompson, nine kills; DyAna Imhof, eight kills, five ace serves; Breann Larson, five ace serves; and Emily Knaeble, 10 digs.

L-BF plays its next match at home Monday against Kelliher/Northome.