By: Jesse Davis
ARCHBOLD (October 10, 2023) – The Vikings made a valiant attempt to fight back during a tight third set but were eventually unable to stand up to the Bluestreak onslaught during a dominant showing for the Archbold volleyball team.
It didn’t take the Vikings long to establish dominance in their first set, completing a monster 8-point run to bring the score to 10-1 including two spikes and a kill from junior Keely Culler as well as a pair of aces from junior Grace Meyer.
Evergreen was only able to put up another three points – through kills from seniors Haley Johnson and Brooke Sintobin as well as a serving error from Archbold – in the same time that the Bluestreaks put up another eight points including a pair of aces from sophomore Miley Gericke and a spike and ace from Culler, bringing the score to 18-4.
Despite picking up another six points overall, including another pair of kills from Johnson, the Vikings couldn’t overcome Archbold’s lead, and the Bluestreaks ended with a four-point run to take the first set 25-10.
Archbold put on an absolute clinic in the second set, starting out with a 13-point run including five kills (three of them consecutive) and one spike from Culler and a pair of kills from Gericke.
During the rest of the set, Culler made an additional two spikes and one kill, with additional kills from Gericke and sophomores Charlee Forward and Lexi Ripke.
The Vikings were only able to put five points on the board during the entire set, only one from a kill – this time from senior Lyla Nash – and the remainder from Bluestreak errors.
In a huge departure from the first two sets, the Vikings found their fire in set three, matching Archbold’s four-point run at the start and taking their first lead of the matchup 5-4 following kills from Sintobin and senior Molly Jo Daugherty and a pair of Archbold errors.
They went on to tie the Bluestreaks 13 more times in the match and take the lead seven more times, including at 23-22 with a kill from Nash.
In the end, however, a three-point run from Archbold including a kill for Culler’s 21st point of the night sealed their fate with a 25-23 Bluestreaks win.
“I was proud of how the team came together,” Bluestreaks Head Coach Debbie Culler said. “We had some nice team chemistry, and we had a nice balance at the net with our different hitters terminating, so I was really pleased.”
Culler said the team also did a great job of passing throughout the night as well as keeping their composure during the Vikings’ resurgence in the third set.
“Momentum’s a big thing in volleyball,” she said. “They kept their composure, and they stayed on task for what they wanted to do for that win and pulled it off.”
Archbold d. Evergreen 25-10, 25-5, 25-23
Evergreen (10-11, 4-3 NWOAL) – no statistics
Archbold (10-11, 4-3 NWOAL) – Keely Culler: 26/30 hitting, 23 kills; Grace Meyer: 29/29 serving, 3 aces; Meg Ames: 46/46 setting, 27 assists, 9 digs
Jesse can be reached at jesse@thevillagereporter.com
