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North Branch and Monticello remained on a collision course for a Mississippi 8 Conference championship clash next week when they both won their last two M8C games.

The Vikings also participated in the tough St. Michael-Albertville Fall Classic over the weekend and bookended the tournament with wins, but dropped three straight contests in between, going 2-3 on the weekend.

North Branch 3, Princeton 1

The Vikings found themselves in a much tougher battle with the Princeton Tigers than they would’ve liked, but that’s what can happen when your best hitter is out. 

Junior Dakota Esget missed the match, leaving the bulk of the swings to Sophia Bendict, Johanna Bartkey and Avery Smith.

It took a bit to adjust in the first two sets, and the Vikings had to battle to win the first one 27-25, and then dropped the second one 26-24. 

But, the third and fourth sets proved to be much smoother for the Vikings against the Tigers, who are just 1-7 in conference play.

They cruised to a 25-17 win in the third set and closed out the match win with a 25-13 victory in the fourth set.

Benedict ended the night with 16 kills from the outside while Bartkey had nine from the middle. Smith chipped in seven for the Vikes.

Jenna Minke had 25 assists and four of NB’s 10 aces.

Sarah Hedberg led the team with 23 digs on defense. Minke had 20 and Benedict had 13.

The defense was also strong in the last few sets, with the Vikings piling up 15 blocks on the night. Five were from Bartkey, four from Benedict and Hailey Notebaart and two from Heidi Hedberg.

St. Michael Albertville Fall Classic

North Branch opened the tourney out west on Friday night with a 2-0 win over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, but then dropped a 2-0 sweep to Rocori before calling it a night on Friday.

The next morning, the Vikings opened with two losses at the hands Sartell and Willmar. But, North Branch rebounded to win their last match, a 2-0 sweep over Legacy Christian Academy.

M8C crown in the balance

The Vikings won their penultimate M8C match up against St. Francis earlier this week, as did Monticello in their match up against Becker.

That sets up the two 7-0 teams to play for the conference title on Monday, October 16 at North Branch at 7 p.m.

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