Plenty of players are back for Charlo to make another run

Charlo took the 10-C district championship last year and will be looking to repeat as they return a lot of starters to this year's team.

"We pretty much have our core team back from last year," Charlo head coach Sheryl Kain said. "I think they're ready. They're looking forward to it."

Rachel Hoyt, Dawn Blevins, Deondra Brown and Kinley Pope will help center a Lady Vikings squad, each with different talents and strength out on the court.

"Those have been my girls that have always been there," Kain said.

Pope has been a dig machine, while Brown is coming off perhaps the best hitting weekend of her career in week one and should be an offensive power. Blevins will be all over the court doing numerous things.

"Dawn is just Dawn," Kain said. "She's more mature this year, she's always had the skill and she's taken on that leadership role."

Hoyt will bring athleticism and be a force around the net this year. This year, Charlo will be looking at Superior, who recently moved down from Class B to C. Last weekend, Superior got a 3-0 victory over last year's No. 2 district seed Arlee but the Scarlet's were without their star setter.

"That's a new face we haven't seen in a while," Kain said of Superior.

Noxon also has their core team back and Arlee should also battle Charlo for district supremacy.

"That's the one that everybody talks about is Arlee-Charlo," Kain said.

CHARLO WINS TWO TO START SEASON

CHARLO - The Lady Vikings faced Mission for the first time in two years last Friday and came out on top with an intense 3-2 victory over their Mission Valley rivals, 19-25, 25-23, 10-25, 25-23, 15-9.

"A couple of my girls play softball with a couple of their girls so it was a friendly rivalry," Charlo head coach Sheryl Kain said.

However, the conditions in the gym were anything but friendly. Summer weather combined with plenty of warm bodies made the inside temperature in Charlo's gym reach almost unbearable conditions.

"Our gym was so excruciatingly hot," Kain said. "If you can win in those conditions, that's good."

Deondra Brown led the offense for the Lady Vikings with 13 kills, while Kinley Pope anchored the defense with 17 digs. Dawn Blevins was an all-around star in the game as she collected five blocks, 13 assists and three aces.

"Dawn did what Dawn does," Kain said. "Deondra had her best hitting game - period."

While players on both teams were getting used to each other and positioning since it was the first game of the season, Kain added that the team needs to cut down on the 22 hitting errors they had in the match.

"That's huge against a good team like Mission," she said.

When the Lady Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead going into the fourth game, the Lady Vikings were able to bounce back with a 25-23 game win which provided to be pivotal.

That allowed Charlo to force a fifth game, which they won 15-9.

"It's good to see that the kids can pull it out when they're down," Kain said.

On Saturday, Charlo traveled down to play a young St. Regis team. The Lady Vikings swept the Lady Tigers 3-0.

"They're young, they have a lot of freshmen," Kain said.

Charlo won by scores of 25-1, 25-14 and 25-10. The Lady Vikings had 19 service aces in the game and nine digs. Deondra Brown was the leader offensively, again, getting 11 kills in the matchup. Dawn Blevins had 11 assists.

Kinley Pope and Rachel Hoyt both had seven aces in the match.