Viking netters end season with home regional loss to Shell Lake

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

COLFAX — It wasn’t exactly the way the Colfax volleyball team wanted their season to end, but after hosting the Shell Lake Lakers in a WIAA Division 4, first-round regional contest Tuesday, October 22, the Vikings lost a four-set match to the Lakers, bringing their season to an abrupt halt. The Vikings were a number eight seed in the regional while the Lakers were the ninth seed which led everyone to believe this would be a closely contested match. With an overall record of 8-17 and playing in the Lakeland Central Conference, several of the Laker losses were to highly rated teams like Grantsburg, Webster and Fall Creek which made their record a little deceiving.

The Vikings struggled with their passing game throughout the match which led to several misplayed balls around the net and the Lakers took advantage by winning the first two sets 25-17 and 25-15 before Colfax put things together to take the third set 25-23.

The Lakers bounced back to win the match 25-15 to advance to the second round where they lost to the number one seed Webster in three sets. The Vikings finished their season with a record of 9-19 and 2-5 in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play.

Colfax fell behind 9-3 in the first set before Sierra Shipman put down a kill shot but they couldn’t get closer than a five-point deficit until Brynn Sikora scored on a kill. Down 16-12, the Vikings finally put a run together, scoring four points with help from a Lydia Polkoski slam and suddenly it

was 16-16. The Lakers used their own scoring streak which included several kills, a couple of Viking errors and a service ace to pull ahead 22-16 but Polkoski again put the ball to the floor to halt the streak. A Viking service error along with a Laker ace and a block at the net gave them the first set.

Colfax jumped ahead 3-0 in set number two in part by Jordyn Bowe diving into the stands to save a point, not only landing on her grandpa but keeping the ball in play for a point. Shell Lake used several kills to score the next eight points however, putting the Vikings in a hole they couldn’t dig out of. Sikora slammed a trio of kills and Polkoski added two more to draw closer, down 14-8 but the Lakers went up 18-9 before Polkoski scored on a slam then served up a point, but after falling behind 20-13, the Vikings could muster up just two more points, one on an Aubrey Rihn kill and another on Polkoski’s kill and the Lakers took set two.

It was do or die for the Vikings and after falling behind 3-0 in the third set they pulled together and used a Bowe kill and a Shipman ace to eventually knot it up at 6-6. They gained some ground with help by slams by Polkoski and Sikora for a 10-7 lead but the Lakers seemed to be controlling the net with a pair of kills and a block for a 10-10 score. Colfax moved ahead 17-14 and increased the lead to 19-15 on a Clara Hydukovich block but had to hang on by a single point for the next several rounds until Rihn, Bowe and Polkoski all sent the ball to the floor for points to make it set point at 24-20. The Lakers were not willing to give the set up with a couple of more kills and a net error by Colfax to make it 24-23 but Bowe put the hammer down for the 25th point for the set win.

The momentum seemed to have finally moved in the Viking’s direction as they started the fourth set with a 8-1 lead with help by a pair of ace serves from Ruby Kunsman. They continued to lead at 12-6 but the Lakers just would not give in and knotted the score at 14-14. Six consecutive points, mostly from Colfax shots landing out of bounds or in the net allowed Shell Lake to take a 20-14 lead before an error on their part broke the streak. It was all Lakers the rest of the way with the final five points of the set and match.

Four seniors ended their high school volleyball careers for Colfax including Ava Sedivy, Aubrey Rihn, Emma Medin and Lydia Polkoski.