The Pelican Rapids Vikings hosted nearby rivals Rothsay Tigers on  September 5.  

The Vikings were excited to return to the home volleyball court on the first day of school.  

The Vikings started set one a little slow. They struggled to serve-receive their strong short serves, preventing the Lady Vikings from getting their offensive in the system, and they could not run it as hoped.  

“We also had a little trouble timing the block and got a little sloppy at the net,” said Coach Heidi Isaman. 

 The Tigers did a good job of taking this opportunity to close the gap. However, libero Morgan Korf had a big 5-point run on the service line to put Pelican up 22-14.  

The Tigers were not going away and put out a 3-point run of their own, but the Vikings held on to get the win in set 1 with a score of 25-18.

Set 2 Pelican needed to improve serve-receive and block. Passers Claudia Gurath, Hazel Haugrud, and Morgan Korf did a much better job receiving their strong serves, and setters Anna Roisum and Ellie Welch made good setting choices to get all hitters in the offense. 

“We attacked well and kept the Tigers out of system which was our goal. We had lots of players come off the bench and they all came in ready to go to do their job,” said Coach Isaman.

 The Vikings won set 2 with a score of 25-9.

Set three, we started a little slow with a few mistakes and had a back-and-forth battle to start. However, a nice, aggressive serving run from senior Marie Backstrom got the Vikings to pull ahead 16-8, and the Vikings were ready to finish strong and aggressive.  

Once again, many girls came off the bench to finish the set, and they came in ready to go and did their job.  

The Vikings won set 3 25-16.  

“Tonight was good team effort and nice home win for all groups,” said Coach Isaman.