MOSES LAKE — The Big Bend Community College Vikings (6-9) bounced back from their 3-0 loss on Friday to Spokane Community College with a gritty 3-2 win over Treasure Valley Community College on Saturday.  

"We start off sometimes a little slower than normal, sometimes it just takes us a little bit of time to get into our groove," Head Coach Lindsey Linthicum said. "Which I think is normal for a lot of teams. It just depends on the set, depends on the rotation. Once we started recognizing and seeing like, 'No, we're not letting this get away from us,' that's when we started stepping up and running different rotations that we knew were more on our side for just keeping things going positive for our program." 

Against SCC, the Vikings fell swiftly 25-11 in the first set. However, this did not deter them as they battled hard in sets two and three but still fell short 25-20 and 25-22. Though it wasn't the result they were striving for, Linthicum said the Vikings made progress in establishing self-belief and digging deep in the face of adversity.  

They carried the positives from Friday's loss into Saturday against TVCC. After dropping the first set 25-13, the Vikings responded in set two with a 25-15 set win. From there, it was a dogfight as both teams settled into the game.  

While TVCC won set three 25-22, it was BBCC who took set four 25-19 and forced a fifth set to determine the winner. With players like Arianna Williams, Molly Mangino, Oaklee Woosley and Jah Chong leading the way, Big Bend pulled ahead 15-9 to win their third set and the game 3-2.  

"Those girls carried us," Linthicum said. "They held us with our blocks; they held us with attacks and kills. But ultimately, though, I would say definitely our (defensive specialists) have really stepped up. They stepped up their communication, their movement, their coverage on our block on our hitters, so that when there were several blocks, they got those up like crazy." 

Defensive specialists Kelsey Koch and Jacee Otley combined for 21 digs on the defensive side of things while libero Chong led the team with 27 against TVCC. Paige Cochrane also did her part to keep the ball in play with 11 digs of her own. The Vikings saw an uptick of digs from their game against Spokane (51), stringing together 83 as a team, an increase of 32 – further emphasizing their improvement on defense. 

It took 50 kills to get the job done, with Woosley (11) and Williams (10) leading the team. Providing additional support on offense were Kaylee Lindley (8), Mangino (7) and Haedynn Plum (6). 

Linthicum emphasized the importance of their defensive approach to keep them in games. Rather than focusing on the blocks or racking up kills, they've worked on breaking down what effective defense can look like for them to set up their offensive attack.  

"Defense is everything, and that was something that I really had to talk to my hitters (about) at the beginning of the season," she said. "They were so focused on 'I have to get the block.' Instead, just even touching that ball to slow it down for our DS's and Liberos in the back row to get that ball in a position to play is huge in of itself. It's just the little things of going back to the basics and going back to the small touches, or the small amount of communication makes a whole difference within a game." 

The Vikings turn their focus to the final five regular season games. Three of those are on the road against Walla Walla Community College, Columbia Basin College and Yakima Valley Community College – all positioned in the top three of the East Region of the Northwest Athletic Conference.  

The Vikings are currently in fifth place behind Spokane and have a chance to secure that fourth spot for the regional tournament. With their next game on Oct. 21 when they host Blue Mountain Community College at 6 p.m., Linthicum and her team know they're going to have to fight for it to the very end.  

"Our girls are determined, and our girls know that they can do it," she said. "It's just a matter of consistently knowing they have that talent and that skill. I'm really telling the girls we have a tenacity about us that shines out more than just being a team that has those two to three strong hitters. Which we do, but sometimes teams focus a lot on that, or they focus on their just phenomenal defense, or they just focus on their amazing setters, but we are a very well-rounded team."  

The Vikings will also have their 'Dig Pink' night against Blue Mountain, which kicks off their fundraiser to support the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation. Their goal is to raise $250 and will have donation buckets available at the game. For those who are interested in donating but can't make the game, the fundraiser will run until the end of the month and donation links will be made available at a later time on their social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.  

BOX SCORE: 

Friday 

SPKN: 25-25-25: 3 

BBCC: 11-20-22: 0 

Saturday 

TVLY: 25-15-25-19-9: 2 

BBCC: 13-25-22-25-15: 3 

    Haedynn Plum (5) goes to serve for the Big Bend Community College Vikings earlier this season.
  

    Jacee Otley (6) intercepts the ball as it enters the Vikings side of the court during a game earlier this season.
  

    The Big Bend Community College Vikings meet at center court to celebrate a point earlier this season.