Lady Vikings improve to 11-0 with wins over Arlee and Noxon

Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal

Lady Viking Becky Jo DuMont rises above the net to tip a ball away from Scarlet Melissa Ivanoff in Arlee Thursday. Dumont had 10 kills in the match.

By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
The Lady Vikings stayed perfect in District 10-C with a pair of four-set wins over Arlee and Noxon.
With the 25-21, 10-25, 25-21, 25-17 victory over the Scarlets in Arlee Thursday and a 25-17, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17 homecoming win over the Lady Red Devils in Charlo Saturday, the Lady Vikings boosted their conference record to 9-0 and their overall record to 11-0.
The two victories also gave the Lady Vikings the regular season sweep over both teams, but that doesn’t make Charlo coach Sheryl Kain breathe any easier. She said that both the Scarlets and the Lady Red Devils could be the dark horses at the district tournament at Two Eagle River at the end of the month.
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Chiefs trample Spartans 58-21 to hit 4-win mark

Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal
Chief Xavier Morigeau breaks away from a Spartan defender as he takes the ball down to the 1-yard line to set up a Jackson Jore touchdown. Morigeau led Ronan with 115 rushing yards and caught a 16-yard touchdown.

Polson breaks up routine with unique trails race

Jim Blow/Valley Journal
Sierra Pete, center, and Karissa Koberg, right, power over a straw bale obstacle in the first half-mile of Saturday's race.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
Cold temperatures hovering around 15 degrees didn't deter the cross country runners who competed in Saturday's unique Polson Duels meet at the Polson Fairgrounds.
The three-mile course, spread over a hilly terrain that included straw bale obstacles and a monster hill climb that was close to a 45 degrees incline up 30 rugged feet of trail. The mud pit didn't work out this year with below-freezing temperatures but there were plenty of fun and challenging obstacles to entertain runners.
In addition to the unique course, the race was split up into various heats that not only combined boys and girls, but split them out by positions on their roster, with the girls getting a head start to promote a close finish among boys and girls.
"The snow made the already challenging course even more exciting and we had great feedback from the visiting teams," Polson head coach Matt Seeley said. "The varsity duels races were tightly contested and gave a large range of runners the chance to showcase their abilities."
In the combined varsity 1/2/3 race, Polson's Mesa Starkey stayed close to Bigfork's Kayla Carlson. Carlson won the girls' race in 19 minutes, 14 seconds, but Starkey wasn't far back in second at 19:35.
Polson's Sierra Pete finished in 22:07 to claim eighth-place and teammate Karissa Koberg was right behind at 22:21 to place ninth. Chelsea Cree moved up as Polson's fifth finisher, clocking the three-mile course in 23:11.
Every point counted for the Polson girls (60), who ran just well enough to capture the team title by one point over Hamilton (59).
"Mesa is looking very determined and strong at just the right time going into Divisionals and State. Sierra Pete and Karissa Koberg continued to work together and push each other with fast times to round out the top three for Polson, " coach Seeley said. "Chelsea Cree also ran very well to grab fifth for the team and solidify her new position on varsity."
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Jump-serve powers Polson past Ronan in 3 sets

Jim Blow/Valley Journal
Lady Pirate Nicole Davey goes up for a kill against Whitefish. Davey had eight kills against Ronan Friday, but it was her serving that did the most damage. She finished with 10 of the Lady Pirates’ 30 aces in the match.

By Jim Blow
Valley Journal
POLSON — A good serve isn’t just getting the ball over the volleyball net. Sometimes it’s a weapon.
The Polson Pirates wielded a strong serve to keep the Ronan Maidens off-balance most of the night as Polson rolled to a 25-5, 25-9, 25-11 conference victory last Friday.
Polson rattled off 30 aces on the night, led by Nicole Davey’s 10 and Breanne Kelley’s five. Both of them used an effective jump-serve that at times overpowered the Maidens or made it difficult to pass the ball into their offense.
“(Ronan) just couldn’t get their offense going. Both Nicole and Breanne were jump-serving and that threw them off,” Polson head coach Jan Toth said. “When they did set up their offense, they did a good job. Their middle blocker, Tailyr Irvine, blocked a few of our hard-hit balls.”
While Irvine led Ronan with three kills and two blocks, Polson notched 26 kills, led by Davey with eight, Kelley with seven and Sallie Sams with seven. Loni Havlovick had two blocks for the Pirates.
Kayla Duford had all 24 of Polson’s sets, while Staci Benson, Davey and Kelley each dug up six balls.
“Collectively, we played our game and everything was very effective,” Toth said.

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