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The annual county volleyball rivalry between North Branch and Chisago Lakes hasn’t been very competitive in the past few years.

Last year, Chisago Lakes took a set off of North Branch, and that’s about as close as they got. This year, things went even worse for the Wildcats. North Branch dominated throughout, setting the tone with a 25-5 victory in the first set, and never looking back as they cruised to a three set sweep.

After the first set, the Vikings won 25-18 and 25-14 to finish the shutout.

Cianna Selbitschka had 14 kills and seven digs for North Branch. A lot of Vikings got on the board on offense with such lopsided scored. They got kills from Katelyn Berg, Lydia Langevin, Jamie Siseman, Emily Benedict, Haley Hadrava, Macy Bombard, and Jayden Verdick.

Rochester Century Invite
The Vikings steamrolled the Century tournament over the weekend, sweeping their way past four opponents, including two with good records coming into the tourney.

The Vkings opened with an easy win over Legacy Christian Academy, who was only 4-13 on the year coming into the tourney.

Again, the Lady Vikes were able to get a lot of girls hits as they led comfortably throughout, winning 25-11, 25-14.

In their second game of the day, they took on Simley, who was 11-6 after the tournament, but one of those losses came at the hands of North Branch. The Vikes throttled the Spartans 25-12, 25-19 behind an aggressive assault form the North Branch hitters. Selbitschka, Madison Hadrava, Lydia Langevin, Emily Benedict, Haley Hadrava, and Bombard all had multiple kills for the Vikings as they were firing on all cylinders.

In North Branch’s third game, they went back to facing a struggling team. Austin had only two wins on the year coming into the tournament. North Branch worked on some fine tuning and some small adjustments in their 25-14, 25-15 sweep over the Packers.

In the championship game, the Vikings got to play host Rochester Century, who earned their spot with wins over Rochester Lourdes, Tartan and Mankato East.

The Panthers were 10-2 on the year heading into the game against North Branch and would provide some stiff competition. It was the toughest match they played all day, but North Branch still prevailed in straight sets, winning the tournament.

Selbitschka had 13 kills and 10 digs, Haley Hadrava had two kills, three aces, four digs, one block and 20 assists in a wonderful all around performance. Berg had two kills, 11 digs, two blocks and three set assists to put her stamp on the title game.

Madison Hadrava stuffed five blocks on defense for the Vikings and added four kills on offense in the 25-19, 25-23 win.

North Branch 3, Andover 1
The Vikings came back to their region to face off against familiar but former Section 7AAA foe Andover.

The Huskies came into the match with a winning record and they showed they wouldn’t be intimidated by North Branch’s 16-1 record when they won the first set 25-18.

But North Branch then returned the favor, showing why they only have one loss through 17 games. The Vikes  won the next three sets to win 3-1.

Selbitschka and Madison Hadrava combined for 37 kills. Selbitschka added 11 digs and three aces. Both Haley Hadrava and Berg had phenomenal all around games again. Berg had six kills and 11 digs while Haley Hadrava had one kill, one ace, 13 digs, two blocks and 48 assists.

The win moved North Branch to 17-1 on the year. They faced off against Blaine earlier this week and will take on Coon Rapids tonight at 7 p.m. at Coon Rapids. The Vikings will finish their busy week at the 32-team St. Michael-Albertville Fall Classic Tournament, which features some of the top teams in the state.

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