Victory sets up second round matchup with rival Bigfork
LITTLEFORK — Littlefork-Big Falls athletic/activities director Chris Bachmeier closed the pre-game introductions Monday with an enthusiastic “LET’S PLAY BASKETBALL.”
Not so fast, Mr. Bachmeier.
The Vikings extended their volleyball season Monday with a 3-0 victory over Mountain Iron-Buhl at home in the opening round of the Section 7A tournament. The scores were 25-13, 25-23, 25-18.
“We were more excited and we played better,” said L-BF sophomore Paige DeLack, who finished with 23 set assists.
The Vikings (15-10) closed the regular season Thursday with a 3-1 win against the Rangers, and doubled them up Monday. It’s now the football team’s turn to do battle with MI-B tonight in the opening round of the Section 7 9-Man tournament.
In Littlefork, the Vikings started strong, but ended with the same inconsistent play that’s been plaguing them all season. After a lopsided first game, L-BF had to rally in Game 2 and hold on in Game 3 to earn the sweep against the No. 12 seed.
“We stuck together and pulled through,” DeLack said.
Leading 17-11 in Game 2 — following Game 1’s rout — L-BF let Mountain Iron-Buhl creep back in and cut the lead to one at 19-18. MI-B trailed by one again at 21-20 and at 23-22 before back-to-back service errors doomed the Rangers. The game — and a lot of MI-B’s hopes — ended when senior Sam Race served it long.
The two teams battled early in Game 3, but the Vikings rallied and took a 22-14 lead before holding on.
Intensity was the key during L-BF’s good stretches of play.
“That’s very important,” Vikings head coach Kim Wimmer said. “We need to bring intensity to every match and bring it into every set. That’s been a challenge all year.”
Haylee Gates led L-BF with 11 kills and two ace serves. Kari Imhof and Hannah Larson added four kills apiece and Brooke Millerbernd and Courtney Pfeifer posted three ace serves each.
Next up is rival and fourth-seeded Bigfork, who split the season series with L-BF. The Huskies won in five games way back on Sept. 8, while the Vikings won Oct. 10 in the Bigfork Tournament.
“Should be an exciting one,” Wimmer said.
