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The North Branch volleyball team lost in four games at Totino-Grace Monday, September 11. Game scores were 25-17, 22-25, 16-25 and 19-25.

“We came out and outplayed Totino in game one, but were not able to maintain that level of volleyball the rest of the match,” said North Branch head coach Kari Francis. “Our serve receive passing broke down and we were not able to keep our offense going. Totino will be a top competitor for the conference title, just as they were last year.”

NB at St. Louis Park

Thursday, September 14

The Vikings won in four games by scores of 25-20, 25-14, 15-25 and 25-14.

“After a tough conference loss on Monday, we needed to come out and play well right away at SLP. The key to the match was our serving. We had 13 aces on the night,” said Francis. Megan Ranger led the way with eight aces.

“We seemed to dominate SLP at the net by hitting .337 as a team,” the coach continued. Randi Zentner had nine kills and hit .500, Meghan Kampff had six kills (.417) and Megan Scherer had nine kills at a .389 rate.

North Branch Invitational

Saturday, September 16

The Vikings pushed their season record to 7-3 by winning the NB Tournament by sweeping all four of their matches.

NB 2, Bemidji 1 22-25, 25-22, 15-11

NB 2, Sartell 0 25-13, 25-23

NB 2, Moose Lake 25-12, 25-15

Championship: NB 2, Esko 1 25-22, 17-25, 15-13

“It was a tough day, but the girls stayed focused and played together the entire day,” said Francis. “We showed a lot of poise going down the first game against Bemidji and coming from behind to win the match. It seemed to set the tone for the rest of the day.”

The Vikings earned a trip to the finals against Esko by finishing first in their pool.

“This was a great match, played on both sides of the net. Once again, when tough situations arose, the entire team kept calm and held strong. We had all members of the team contribute during the day to get us this far. Our team chemistry was one of the keys to our success throughout the entire day,” Francis concluded.

The Vikings continue their season at home against the Chisago Lakes Wildcats Tuesday, September 26.

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