ORR — Orr is one of the top teams in Section 7A for a reason.
The second-seeded Braves, which lost only three matches during the regular season, took care of the 10th-seeded Vikings 3-0 on Wednesday in the second round of the section tournament. Nine days after defeating the Vikings 25-22, 30-28, 25-21, the Braves beat L-BF 25-12, 25-21, 25-18, ending the Vikings season.
“I think it’s wide open. They have as good of a chance as any,” Vikings head coach Kim Wimmer said about Orr’s chances with the rest of the Section 7A field (which resumed action Friday night).
Orr’s only losses this season were to AlBrook, Cherry and Babbitt-Embarrass. The matches went five games against AlBrook and Cherry, and the loss to the Knights was in a tournament.
Braves junior LaShae Brooks was dominant at times Wednesday, finishing with 18 kills — nine in the first game — and five ace blocks. Freshman Destinie Villebrun, who suffered a minor asthma attack in Game 2, had 11 kills, 16 set assists, three ace serves and three blocks. Orr head coach Tom Burnett called back-to-back timeouts for Villebrun, and the freshman returned soon after and finished the match. Freshman Tessa Mankus added 11 set assists and Tiffany Skinaway had seven digs and three ace serves.
Brooke Millerbernd and DyAna Imhof led the Vikings (8-17) with five kills apiece, while Paige DeLack had 10 set assists. Millerbernd also had 13 digs and Chelsey Ziemba made 10 digs.
After opening the season 1-13 (with a 13-game losing streak), the Vikings closed 2010 with seven wins and four losses. Without a senior on the postseason roster, Wimmer is expecting everyone back next season.
“Things should only get better,” she said.
