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North Branch 3, Cambridge-Isanti 2

In a back and forth tilt that never had a dominant game in it by either team, North Branch scraped by visiting Cambridge-Isanti for a five-set win.

The Bluejackets took the first set in extra points, winning 26-24, and North Branch returned the favor, besting C-I 27-25 in the second set to even the match.

"Our athletes played very well for the first match of the year, and all the sets were very close," first year Head Coach Hayley Lang said. "Cambridge was a very scrappy team who did not let the ball hit the court very much."

North Branch took the third set 25-20 and was in command of the match, only a set away from victory.

However, the veteran team couldn't close the resilient Bluejackets out, as C-I won the fourth set 26-24 in another extra-point affair.

In the fifth and deciding set of the match, the Jackets and Vikes wouldn't have it any other way than going past the traditional 15 points. North Branch battled to take the late lead and finished the match off with a 16-14 victory in the fifth set.

"We had to really play with smart shots and great passing to win," Lang said after the hotly contested match was over.

Junior setter Emily Trunk was on point, dishing out 32 assists, with a good amount of them going to Jessica Merchant and Tayler Fertig. Fertig ended with 11 kills and Merchant had nine.

Andover 3, North Branch 0

After the five-set barn burner against Cambridge-Isanti, the Vikings went down with a relative whimper against section rival and top 10 ranked Andover.

The Huskies returned nearly all of their starters from last year's state tournament team, so they will be a force to be reckoned with this season.

The Vikes lost 13-25, 15-25 and 22-25 in straight sets. "Although we lost to Andover, I was pleased with the amount of intensity and drive our players had," Lang said. "Our passing out of the serve receive struggled and made our offense lag from the beginning.

"Andover really attacked the ball well, and they have a few hitters who were pushing our defense."

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