The Vikes bounce back with convincing home win

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

Back on the home court after suffering their first loss of the season last Thursday, the Posen volleyball team played as if they had put it behind them with a dominating performance against Au Gres. Other than scoring the first point in games two and three, Au Gres never led. Not once. The Vikings set the tone with a 25-9 win in game one and then took game 2 and 3, 25-12 and 25-16. “I told them to focus on the basics of volleyball, the passing, setting and spiking; and just get back to our game,” said assistant coach Mike Baldwin, filling in for head coach John Dietlin. “This was a good game for them. They showed some good resiliency in coming back from a loss last week. I was real proud of them tonight.” Posen lost a five game match at Atlanta a week ago. The Vikings (9-1, 5-1) next match is at Fairview tonight.

IN THE first game Tuesday, Janice Ciarkowski was in a groove at the net, and really got things cooking when she got a kill to give Posen a 9-3 lead. Another Ciarkowski kill made it 12-3 and Tina Mulka’s back-to-back aces made it 14-3. Tina Mulka served nine straight points before Au Gres stopped the run. Ciarkowski added two more kills to give the Vikings points 18 and 19. Emily Smolinski and Nicole Purol got involved as well with kills down the stretch. Game one ended when the Vikings saved a ball from going out of bounds. Hit number three came from Cheryl Romel, well into the backcourt. Au Gres couldn?t get it back over. In game two, Autumn Pilarski helped pad an early lead with back-to-back aces to make the score 5-1. Au Gres called time out and when the Wolverines took the court again, Pilarski served another ace.

Purol had back-to-back kills to make it 16-11. Victoria Wozniak’s smash gave the Vikes their biggest lead, 19-11. Purol served the final six points of the game and got help from anothe

r Ciarkowski kill. She would end up tied with Purol for the team lead with seven. With the score 4-3 in game three, Posen pulled away with a Wozniak kill and a pair of aces by Purol. Purol wasn’t through as she had points 14, 16 and 18, all on kills. Tina Mulka’s tip at the net gave the Vikings an eight point lead, 20-12. She then went to the serving line and got the next four points. The final point was probably the toughest of the night to get, but Au Gres served a ball into the net and it was over. Purol finished with six digs, while Tina Mulka led the team with 10 assists. Romel added nine.

LAST THURSDAY, Atlanta won the first two games, 25-21 and 27-25.The Vikes came back to get the next two, but lost the decisive game, 15-8. The J.V. (6-1) won the early contest, two games to one. They lost the first one by eight, but came back with 10 and six point victories. Emily Delekta had two assists and two aces, while LeAnn Strzelecki had four aces. Lindsey Bartz had two kills. At Atlanta, it was a clean sweep, 25-14, 25-19 and 15-6. April Miller had two kills and four aces. Tracy Mulka had seven aces. “The girls are playing extremely well together, I couldn’t ask for a better team to coach for my very first year,” said coach Michelle Mulka. “I am so proud off them.”

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