The Pelican Rapids had their first conference match-up September 7 against the DGF Rebels.  

The Vikings were excited to start conference play and knew that this match-up with the Rebels would be a good battle, and a good battle is exactly what it was.  

Set one was a back-and-forth battle, with neither team getting more than a run of two points through most of the set.  

The Vikings came out ready to hit and set the tone for the game. Serve receive was a little bit of a struggle for us earlier this week, so passing the ball and getting our offense in system was huge tonight, and the girls really delivered.  

Senior Claudia Gurath did an amazing job of passing the ball tonight as they went after her on the service line to keep the ball away from our libero. Claudia did a great job and made some huge plays on the offensive and defensive end tonight. After losing our defensive specialist Hazel Haugrud to an injury, the Rebels went on a five-point run.  

Morgan Korf answered with a three-point run of her own on the service line, but it wasn’t quite enough to win the set, and the Vikings lost set one, 18-25.

Set two Pelican needed to regroup the lineup, and Sophomore Allie Thompson did a good job coming off the bench for us to play our defensive specialist position. The Vikings got into a rhythm offensively. Setter Ellie Welch did a great job moving the ball around and utilizing all her hitters. Middle hitter Anna Roisum and right side hitter Zayla Arrow really worked hard to attack their block and swing through the powerful block. We had another minor injury as our middle blocker and setter Roisum took a ball to the face, and junior Zayli Arrow and 8th grader Kamryn Kirkwood did a great job of coming off the bench and doing their job until Roisum was able to come back into the game.  

The Vikings played hard and won set two, 25-14.

Set three was a back-and-forth battle to start as the girls were playing with yet another lineup. Korf and Gurath played great defense. Our back side block was a little weak all night, and the Rebels took advantage of it to get many of their points and the 

Vikings lost set three with a score of 19-25.

Set four the girls battled hard, but fatigue brought a few hitting and serving errors.

Zayla Arrow and Anna Roisum really hit the ball well tonight and did not shy away from their blockers. The girls fought hard.  

They were down 22-15 when Roisum went on a four-point run of her own to close the gap, but the Rebels hung on to get the win with a score 21-25. 

“I was very proud of these girls tonight for how well they persevered through many last-minute lineup and position changes. They supported each other and did their job.”