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HomeSportsCrawford SportsViking spikers sweep tri-meet with Reed City, Oscoda

Viking spikers sweep tri-meet with Reed City, Oscoda

By Greg Gielczyk

GRAYLING — With students returning to school in person at Grayling for the first time in seven months, and strict protocols in place to hopefully avoid the spread of the COVID-19 virus that has gripped the state and country for seven months, emotions were naturally heightened.

After a full day of classes and adjusting to wearing facial coverings and practicing social distancing, there was a volleyball tri-meet scheduled Tuesday night.

Despite the turmoil of getting used to what is being called “the new normal,” the Vikings managed to put the day’s potentially upsetting day behind them to come away with a pair of victories, topping Reed City, 2-0 by identical scores of 25-18, and then overcoming a first-game loss to take down Oscoda, 2-1 rallying from a 20-25 loss in the first game to win the next two, 26-24 and 15-9.

The Vikings didn’t let the Coyotes’ height unnerve them in the first match, although they could have been excused for feeling just a little twinge of awe as the Coyotes walked into the gym.

“Overall, we played really, really well,” Grayling head coach Tim Zigila said. “We distributed the ball well. Just all around the team played real well.”

Paige Clark and Kynadi Dole each came up with five kills against the Coyotes, finding the creases in the Coyotes’ defense at the net and finding the open spaces.

Makayleigh Laskowski has really stepped up her game at the service line and strung together an impressive run of points to keep possession of the ball for the Vikings and not permitting the Coyotes from getting off any major runs.

Alison Brown and Ellie Wagner served well for the Vikings against Reed City as well. Wagner had a couple of aces down the stretch that made the difference, and Dole provided two big kills early on that set the tone.

In the first game against Oscoda, the Vikings struggled a bit, trailing by five points on two separate occasions and for a time didn’t look like they’d reach 20 points.

Laskowski picked the Vikings up in the second game, though, came in and served a string of five straight points in helping them hold serve. Dole and Clark each came up with a couple of big kills during that stretch.

From her setter’s position, Brown handled a couple of 50-50 balls at the net well to produce a couple of decisive points for the Vikings during the second game.

Kenzie Castle held serve for four points before Brown scored a couple of aces to kick start the Vikings’ offense in the third game.

“Oscoda is super athletic,” Zigila said. “They have a really, really strong outside and their setter is real strong. They were a good match for us. I thought our two games against Reed City we were in a little bit different offense, and the girls adapted well to it.

“We just ran the same lineup against Oscoda, and we struggled to get off the block. Yesterday was a little bit of challenge. I think the kids were a little bit emotionally spent.

“As the night wore on, I felt we got a little bit stronger. Even though we dropped that first set to Oscoda, I felt like we were a little bit stronger through the middle, which we were against them. We just kind of picked it up and got after it.”

Grayling is off until Wednesday, Sept. 9 at home against Charlevoix.

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