Vikings blast Bulldogs for final conference win

COLFAX — The Colfax volleyball team ended their conference season with a three set win at home against Boyceville Oct. 9, ending the conference season with a record of 8-1, good enough for a solid second place finish.

“This was a good match between two very scrappy and determined teams,” Colfax coach Pam Meredith said after the win. “Both teams missed quite a few serves which kept the momentum swinging from one team to the other.”

Set number one was knotted up four times before Colfax pulled ahead 13-7 as Dannielle Dachel served three straight times with Taylor Shipman and Chey Olson putting down a kill for points. It looked like the Vikings were in control when they had several six point leads including 16-10, 22-16 and 23-17, but the Bulldogs put up a fight as they tied it up at 24-24. Olson then served twice and Braanna Steen put down a final slam for a 26-24 Colfax win.

Set two was another nailbiter as the Bulldogs held an 8-5 lead before the Vikings, on the strength of the serving of Emily Tuschl, tied the score at 9-9. Boyceville went on a four point run with Abby Bird serving before Olson broke the streak with a kill shot. It was nip and tuck from there on out as Kori Buchanan tied things up at 16-16 with a kill, and it was tied three more times, the last at 19-19 before Tuschl returned to the service line. Four consecutive serves with Melanie Billon scoring on a tip combined with a block by the Viking’s front line allowed Colfax to move out to a 23-19 lead. The Dogs kept the pressure on however, with Bird serving two points combined with a Viking error to keep Colfax up by just a point at 23-22. But a block by Olson followed by an ace serve from Dachel put the set away 25-22.

It didn’t appear Boyceville was going down easy when they jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the third set, but a determined Colfax team came back with seven consecutive points starting with a Ryleigh Prochnow tip with Buchanan at the service line. Emily Halpin put a kill shot down and added a tip for a point while Steen and Prochnow combined for a big block to go with an ace from Buchanan and just like that, Colfax was up 11-10. But again the Bulldogs fought back to knot things up 14-14 before the Vikings regained the lead at 19-16 in part by a Taylor Shipman kill and an Olson ace. Colfax was hanging on by a thread, up 21-20, 22-21, and 23-22 before a Boyceville error and a final tip by Buchanan put the set and match away 25-22.

“I’m not sure it was the most fundamentally sound match played by either team,” Meredith said. “But as the conference season winds down I think it was a good win for us before we enter playoffs next Tuesday.”

Kills were pretty evenly distributed for the Vikings as Buchanan led the way with eight and Olson added seven with six for Steen and five for Prochnow. Buchanan displayed her all around abilities with eight assists, 11 digs and three service aces while Olson added 13 digs. Tuschl and Alexis Rudi both dug the ball off the floor 13 times with Tuschl adding points with two ace serves and Dachel led in the assist stats with 14 to go with a pair of aces from the serving line.

Colfax begins regional play with a home match Tuesday, Oct. 16 against Blair-Taylor. The winner of this game would play the winner of the Elk Mound-Whitehall game on Thursday night.