Broncos fall to Raiders 3-2, but prove they can hang with ranked opponents
Battling a determined International Falls squad — juiced from a large and boisterous crowd — No. 15 Greenway was able to avoid an upset Thursday and come from behind to beat the Broncos 3-2 at a loud Falls High Gym (25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-10).
The Raiders (5-1), a young and up-and-coming team that beat Hibbing a week ago for the first time in 22 years, erased a 2-1 deficit in an environment that hasn’t been seen around the Borderland in a while.
“Our fans were amazing. They cheered the whole game,” Broncos head coach Erin Shikowsky said. “I saw some of them after the game and they couldn’t talk. ... That made the game that much more fun. It was fun already, but that made it more fun.”
A straw poll of six Bronco fans, including three teachers (at least two were former players), determined it had been a good 8-10 years since fans were this rambunctious for Bronco volleyball.
Senior Sydney Gordon, in her fifth year on varsity, compared the match to a contest against Grand Rapids a few seasons ago, “but none with the fans. We’ve never been that intense,” she said.
The energy was contagious.
“They kept us up the whole time,” senior Mackenzie Raboin said.
Raboin had a career-high 57 digs, while Gordon posted 22 kills and 23 digs. Julia Santee took advantage of some extended playing time for the first time all year and finished with 10 kills, 24 digs and two ace blocks. Santee, a transfer from Becker, had been limited with a back injury. Katie Graves (six ace serves, four kills) and Reva Renollet (35 set assists) also had strong games.
There were 104 digs alone out of Raboin, Gordon and Santee.
“They digged the hell out of everything,” said Greenway head coach Rhaya Tomberlin-Anderson, who admitted the environment rocked some of her younger players.
“It was a great match,” she said.
Sophomore Taylor Orhn led Greenway with 12 kills, three ace serves and 43 digs, junior Callie Orazem recorded 10 kills, two ace serves and 37 digs and junior Gabby Feldt finished with nine ace kills and four ace blocks. Senior Maria Peluso made 43 digs, sophomore Therez Ranta had 40 set assists and freshman Summer McDonald, playing in her third career match on varsity, had seven kills and nine ace blocks.
“We had them,” Shikowsky said. “In that Game 4 we quit attacking. We let up a little bit. They made some plays and we weren’t able to recover fully.”
Shikowsky liked how her team battled after losing a 16-10 lead in the momentum-changing fourth game, but the aggressiveness just wasn’t there.
Santee smoked a laser of a kill down the line to draw even at 20-20, but the Broncos never held a lead or even shared a tie the rest of the game. A kill by Feldt made it 22-20 and Orhn added a kill a little later to make it 24-22. After Gordon scored a point with a tip, Mcdonald answered with a tip to send it to Game 5.
“In Game 5, they got the points first and the momentum kept going,” Raboin said.
The Broncos failed to return a strong serve by Maddy Hynek to fall behind 11-6 in the decisive game. Shikowsky used her second timeout at that point, but the damage was done. Orhn and Orazem had kills down the stretch, and the contest ended with a tip by Mcdonald.
“We started to mix it up and adjust our defense,” Tomberlin-Anderson said about changes in Game 4. “And started playing together again.”
Rarely do losses bring about positive vibes, but they were all over the Falls High Gym after this thriller.
“I know as a coach I’m very proud of the way we played,” Shikowsky said. “I know we’ll walk away with more positives than negatives, even though we lost.”
The players seemed more pumped about the crowd than the result.
“We lost, but we learned we can do it,” Gordon said before Raboin chimed in.
“We did a lot of things right,” she said.
