After waging a comeback down by eight points in game three to keep Tuesday night’s match going, International Falls’ volleyball team wasn’t able to win another game and dropped its opening Iron Range Conference tournament match in the Falls High School gym to Grand Rapids, 12-25, 9-25, 27-25, 15-25.
“To start off, we were missing our blocks, we weren’t really picking up the digs, and I thought we turned things around a little bit...,” said Broncos head coach Erin Shikowsky. “At least the blockers were slowing it down and we were able to keep the ball in play. ... We had a few ace blocks, so that definitely helped.
“All around, I was pretty pleased with our effort. We still have our runs of errors that I wish we could get rid of.”
Tessa Walls led the Falls with 12 kills and four ace blocks. Three Broncos recorded double-digit digs led by Sara Christianson with 19, followed by Shawna Misner with 13 and Reva Renollet with 11. Renollet also had 17 set assists.
Shikowsky said Falls’ level of play was where it should be when the Broncos battled back in game three.
“We were battling point for point,” she said. “We were moving as a team — offense, defense — our passes were where they need to be. I was impressed with the way we were playing there.”
Shikowsky said the loss to Grand Rapids assures the Falls of playing a road match against its next IRC opponent on Thursday.
