DOLLAR BAY — While the Baraga Vikings volleyball team. dominated the first two sets of their Copper Mountain Conference game against the Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Blue Bolts on Wednesday, the third set belonged to the Blue Bolts. However, that is as good as it got, because the girls from Baraga got back on their ship and sailed to a fourth set-match win, 25-14, 25-21, 16-25, and 25-21.
“We served well, and that is what kept us in the game,” said Vikings coach Corey Pietila.
Strong service by way of the Vikings’ Megan Mayo put the Blue Bolts in the hole 10-0 to open the first set. That morphed into a 16-6 Vikings’ lead and an eventual set win.
“We struggle in that first set night in and night out,” said Blue Bolts coach Sarah Audette. “It sounds strange, but it takes us half a set to finally enter into the flow of the game, and that happened tonight.”
The second set was a little better for the Blue Bolts as they seemingly woke up and transformed a 20-6 deficit into a much closer 24-21.
The Blue Bolts’ Nora Keranen was the big force behind the service line as she moved the squad from an 11-point deficit to a three-point one, but the Vikings could not be caught and finished with the set win.
In the third set, the Blue Bolts took their first lead of the night at 6-3. It was as if another team showed up as they pushed that lead to 15-7 and kept the Vikings at bay. With Kiera Isaacson on the line, the Blue Bolts won the set.
That fighting Dollar Bay spirit rolled into the fourth set as these two rivals tied at three, seven and eight before Baraga (8-2) put some distance between themselves and the Blue Bolts. With Kinsei Jahfetson on the service line, the Baraga squad took a three-point lead at 14-11. That became a five-point lead as Mya Hendrickson put up an ace to make it 20-15 and an eventual set and match victory.
Elisa Delene, the Vikings lone freshman, had 10 kills on the night much to the delight of her coach.
“I liked how our setter was setting the ball up,” said Pietila. “It was not to the same person every time. Our passing was okay. We need to work on it not being so erratic.”
UP NEXT
The Blue Bolts will head to L’Anse on Thursday to face the Purple Hornets. On that same day, the Vikings will travel to Lake Linden to face the Lakes. First serve for both varsity games are set for 6:30 p.m.