Vikings continue to dominate the DAC

VALPARAISO — Senior Sara Clark waddled over from one side of the court to the other talking to classmates and friends following her team’s 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-15) win over Crown Point in Duneland Athletic Conference action on Thursday night at home.

Then, the 6-foot-1 middle hitter bent over, adjusted the two ice packs on her knees and smiled brightly as she described how close her Vikings are to achieving the team’s first goal.

“We knew they were No. 2 in the DAC and we just knew we had to come out ready to go. We kept them under 10 the first game and the momentum just kept going,” said Clark, who finished with seven kills, three aces, 11 digs and five block kills. “We set goals at the beginning of the season and one of those was to go undefeated in the conference; we lost that but the other one was to win the DAC and get into sectionals and win sectionals and I think we have a pretty good chance.”

No doubt the Vikings have a good chance if they keep dominating opponents like they did on Thursday.

Valparaiso (22-2, 10-1) jumped out on top from the get-go and never looked back in Game 1. Vikings coach Katie Lenard said she knew the Bulldogs were capable of putting together a strong match so her girls worked on putting up a good block in this match and things worked almost perfectly.

“We came out really strong. It was a big match for us,” Lenard said. “Crown Point played really well against us last time; we knew what they were going to be bringing our way. We just came out strong and took advantage (of their errors).

“We were connecting on every single play. Everything was positive and happening the way we wanted it to happen. They have really good hitters so we were focused and prepared for that.”

Crown Point found some momentum in the third game jumping out to a five-point lead.

But the Vikings were determined to put the game to rest in three and they met that challenge.

“What worked was our serving and our blocks,” Clark said. “We didn’t miss a single serve in the second match and our blocks got us back into that third game when we were down five.”

Brigid Scannell led the team with 15 kills and 15 digs, while Tarrah Laskey recorded 36 assists and three blocks. Purdue University-bound Katie Workman had two aces and 16 digs for the Vikings.

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