One to clinch for Posen Volleyball

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor With another sweep of a league opponent, the Viking volleyball team is one win away from clinching at least a tie for the conference title. Posen dusted Hillman on the home floor Tuesday night, getting by them in game one and settling down for a rather easy night at the office the rest of the way. The final scores were 25-22, 14, 15.

The Vikes take that unblemished 11-0 North Star League (NSL) record into Atlanta, the only school to knock off Posen in league play in 2008. This year’s squad has a chance to do one better than the breakthrough squad of ’08 by going undefeated in the NSL. Not so fast, says coach John Dietlin. “I want to finish Thursday perfect,” the coach said. “We’ve taken that attitude. We don’t want to be looking ahead.? Last Thursday, the Vikings met Mio?s challenge in five hard fought games to earn the season sweep against the Thunderbolts and down their closest competitor. The scores were 25-14, 25-21, 27-29, 22-25 and 15-5.

HILLMAN HAD a fast start, jumping out to a 9-3 advantage. The girls shook the cobwebs and got down to business, tying the score at 11, before putting the Tigers away. “We stopped pressing,” said Dietlin of the turn around after game one. “We were trying to make the perfect pass and the perfect set. They’ve done this hundreds of times, just let the muscles of the routine do it, and that’s what they did. ”

After a long volley won by Posen, that made the score 19-12 in game two, Hillman made three consecutive errors to get the Vikings to 21. Kills by Lindsay Ponik, Leanne Buczkowski and LeAnn Strzelecki, provided the final points. The Vikings got off to a tremendous start in game three with an opening kill by Janice Ciarkowski and two aces by Ponik for a 3-0 lead. Hillman countered with two, but the Vikes came back with five straight.

Tracy Mulka had two aces in the run, while Strzelecki tipped the ball out of reach of a Hillman player, who was running in the other direction

. Hillman made a couple of small runs, but could get no closer than six. Buczkowski had nine kills and was followed by Ciarkowski with six. Cheryl Romel and Mulka had nine digs each, while Casey Barrow added seven. Mulka led the girls with four aces.

In the assist department, Romel had 10, while Ponik had nine. Last Saturday, the Vikes split with Inland Lakes and Bellaire in Rogers City before losing to fifth-rate Pellston and Onaway. Their overall record is 13-3-3. THE JUNIOR varsity swept Hillman, 25-19, 11, 9. Emily Delekta had 11 aces and 17 consecutive service points. She also added five assists.

Anna Couture helped out with four aces, while Gabby Rauls had two aces and three kills. Paige Lewandowski contributed three aces and three digs. The girls lost at Mio, 25-20, 23, 21. The stats follow: Lewandowski three digs, two kills; Delekta three aces, one dig, four assists; Couture six aces; and Sydney Rauls three aces.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.