Broncos hold off surging Vikings in five games
Littlefork-Big Falls wouldn’t go away easy, and International Falls didn’t want to open the season with back-to-back collapses.
The combination created an entertaining back-and-forth match Thursday in front of a big crowd at the Falls High Gym, with the Broncos edging their Borderland rival 3-2 (25-16, 25-13, 22-25, 14-25, 15-9).
“It was very exciting to see the fan support,” Broncos head coach Erin Shikowsky said. “They had a lot of fans and I know the football players were behind us.”
The Vikings (1-2) looked overmatched and completely out of sync early on, but turned it around in Games 3 and 4.
“We just wanted to win, so we played like it,” said junior captain Paige DeLack, who finished with 22 set assists and 12 digs.
The Broncos nearly lost their second straight match after holding a 2-0 lead. They were up Tuesday at Orr 2-0 before falling in the final three games. Thursday was a different story.
The Broncos (2-1), went right to offensive catalyst Sydney Gordon, and the senior captain notched two kills right off the bat in Game 5. The Broncos pushed the lead to 7-1, and Gordon added another kill to make it 10-4. The Vikings’ 12th service error of the match — seven of their 12 service errors came in Games 1, 2 and 5 — made it 11-6 Broncos, and Gordon added kills to make it 12-9 and 13-9. The match ended with an ace from Brooke Graves.
“The fifth game is always tough, cause it’s over so quick,” Vikings head coach Kim Wimmer said.
Gordon finished with a match-high 17 kills to go with 19 digs and four ace serves. Mackenzie Raboin had 34 digs and Katie Graves made 16 digs. Reva Renollet, who finished with a match-high six ace serves, also dished out 18 set assists. Kelsey Foss added 11 set assists.
“We have the ability to be more aggressive and have a more powerful offense (this season),” Shikowsky said. “We just have to put it all together.”
The Vikings (1-2) got five kills apiece from DyAna Imhof, Brooke Millerbernd and Chelsey Ziemba. Courtney Pfeifer had five ace serves.
“We should be able to compete in our section pretty well,” said Wimmer. “We just have to come prepared.”
Match notes
• Broncos senior Julia Santee, who transferred from Becker in January, sat out with a back injury and has yet to play this season. Shikowsky said Santee will be held out of practice until next week before getting reevaluated.
• This is the first of five Broncos-Vikings matchups currently scheduled during the school year.
The boys basketball and softball teams play each other once, while the girls basketball teams will play each other twice.
• Don’t be fooled. The game ball looked like a different ball this year, but it’s actually the same type of ball used in previous seasons. Athletic/activities director Don Rolando had to purchase new volleyballs this year, and these are just a different color than in previous seasons.
