Lady Vikings down P’burg in four games to head to

divisionals

PABLO - Charlo had to battle on Monday night, but they kept their season alive with a 3-1 victory over Philipsburg at Salish Kootenai College to advance to the divisional tournament this weekend in Butte.

After getting third place in the 10-C district tournament last weekend in Noxon, it was do-or-die for the Lady Vikings and they certainly did the former.

"It would have been real sad if we would have lost, especially with this group of girls," Charlo head coach Sheryl Kain said. "They have worked so hard."

Charlo won the first game 25-20 after gaining some separation at 19-13 after a close first part of the contest. They would move their match lead up to 2-0 by downing P'burg 25-22 in a close one.

While the Lady Prospectors would win the third game 25-18, the Lady Vikings buckled down for the fourth game by the score of 25-17. Charlo finished the game on 10-4 run.

Senior Deondra Brown led the way with 19 kills, while Dawn Blevins provided the defense with 21 digs and set up plays with 26 assists.

The win is even more impressive considering the Lady Vikings had little time to prepare for it or get any rest after the district tournament over the weekend.

"You know how Mondays are," Kain said. "In a way it's a lot like a challenge game in basketball. You think you're going to play on the weekends and then this is thrown at you. It's tough."

Over the weekend, Charlo got things started on Friday by downing Arlee 3-1 thanks to 12 kills by Brown and Rachel Hoyt. Charlo won the first two games, 25-22 and 25-21. Arlee would win the third 22-25 before the Lady Vikings finished them off in the fourth game 25-19.

Blevins was a do-all for Charlo again, collecting 22 assists and five aces for the Lady Vikings.

Kain explained that things get tougher in the district tournament since everyone has had a chance to work on their play.

"Everybody had improved and that means you cant have many errors," Kain said.

In the undefeated game on Friday, Charlo faced powerhouse Superior and played them tough. They lost the first game by a score of just 25-20 and after losing the second game 25-17, they pushed the Bobcats to extra points in the third game before falling 27-25.

"We played really well against Superior, we just had some letdowns at times," Kain said.

Rachel Hoyt had eight kills in the game while Kinley Pope had 19 digs. The Lady Vikings were solid on defense and did better than their Superior counterparts, collecting 62 to Superior's 42 digs.

That put Charlo in the third-place match against Arlee and it was one heck of a barnburner.

The first two games went into extra points as Charlo won first 27-25 and then Arlee countered with a 29-27 victory. The Scarlets finished things up with 25-17 and 25-15 victories.

"I though we played well this weekend," Kain said. "We just had some moments that weren't very good."

Brown had 15 kills, while Kelsie Blevins added 25 digs. Dawn Blevins had 20 assists and four blocks.