Lady Vikings and Scarlets now tied for first place in the

conference

CHARLO - During last Friday's match up against Arlee, Charlo volleyball coach Sheryl Kain had her team do one thing: focus.

"It's homecoming week, you have all these distractions so it's nice to see them focused," Kain said. "It's nice to have good, close games like that."

The close game she was talking about was a 3-0 victory over Arlee, its first conference loss of the season, 25-22, 25-17, 25-23. The offense came from Charlo sophomore Rachel Hoyt who had nine kills and junior Dawn Blevins had 21 assists in the game to go along with 13 digs and three blocks.

"It's a good confidence builder," Kain said.

The Lady Vikings (9-1 conference, 13-1 overall) and Scarlets (9-1 conference, 10-3 overall) are tied for the lead in the District 10-C conference, which could set up an earth-shattering matchup in the postseason.

"Charlo had a lot more momentum when we played them on Thursday," Arlee head coach Brian Big Sam said.

Arlee dealt with a lot of sickness last week, largely due to it being a long season and the change in weather. The Scarlets are fully expecting to well when they get a postseason shot at the Lady Vikings.

"They know they can beat them," Big Sam said. "We just need to go in there with our momentum high."

Before the Charlo game, Arlee had run its undefeated conference streak to nine with a 3-0 sweep of St. Regis on Tuesday, 25-15, 25-11, 25-16. Junior Courtney Dix led the Scarlets with eight kills and 13 assists.

Charlo and Arlee both posted victories over Two Eagle last week and have no losses against another conference team except against one another. The Lady Vikings also posted a 3-1 victory over Alberton on Monday, 25-14, 25-12, 25-17. Junior Kinley Pope had 13 digs and four aces for Charlo in the win.