North Country secures second, trip to Divisional next

With their season on the line and their backs against the wall, North Country Libro Elise Strommen left her feet and slid head-first to save a Lustre serve that if had hit the ground would have ended the Lady Maverick's volleyball season.

"I felt like I was going to throw up," Strommen said. When asked at which point she thought she'd get sick during the play - before, during, or after - Strommen said "all three."

Strommen's save led to a kill by teammate Kia Wasson to stave off what would have been a 25-21 loss in the match and 3-1 loss in the game. North Country would go on an 8-4 run (the two teams each having game-point two times in the process) before points were scored on a Kaitlyn McColly kill (with a nice set by Jaycee Erickson) and an unforced error by Lustre for the 30-28 win, pushing the game to a 2-2 tie. North Country would then win a fifth match 15-11 to beat Lustre 3-2, secure second place at the District 3C Tournament and punch their ticket to the Eastern C Divisional Tournament next week in Sidney.

"We hadn't beat Lustre all year, so we came into the tournament and one of our big goals this season was to make it to Divisionals," Maverick Head Coach Charlene Wasson said. "We knew we had to beat one of these two teams and we did."

The win over Lustre was the second contest of the day between the two teams as North Country fell earlier to the Lady Lions 3-1 in the opening round of the tournament, a 10 a.m. contest (the rematch started at 3 p.m. and followed a Lustre loss to eventual first place team Scobey.)

Jayden Erickson said she was frustrated with her play earlier in the day during the opening round loss to Lustre. She said the second time around, her teammates and she stepped it up.

"It was a rough morning and we didn't do very good," she said. "We rested and in the second game came back and eventually dominated."

In the opening round loss, Wasson led the team in kills with 8, Chaykota Christensen paced the team in blocks with 4, Jayden Erickson had a team-high 5-aces, and Jaycee Erickson led the team in digs with 13 and assists with 11.

The second-round match between Scobey and Lustre went the way of the Lady Spartans, 25-15, 25-18, and 25-15, for the 3-0 win (Scobey would not lose a match during the three-team tournament.)

The loser-out match between the Lady Mavericks and Lustre - the winner to advance in post-season play -saw Jayden Erickson knock down a team-high 14 kills, McColly had 3-blocks, Wasson, Strommen, and McColly each had 3-aces, McColly had a game-high 28 digs, and Jaycee Erickson led the team in assists with 17. The win in loser-out action started slowly for the Lady Mavericks who fell behind 2-0 before rallying in the third set and then the magical fourth set which featured the team down to their final point. The final tally for the game would be a 3-2 win for North Country, 23-25, 15-25, 25-18, 30-28, and 15-11.

"We realized it was do or die time and we were playing for our seniors," Strommen said. "Emilie Carillo (senior) wasn't able to play today so we wanted to give her another week to play."

Jayden Erickson tipped her hat to her teammates for not letting the adversity in the day's play determine how their season would end.

"I think the seniors did a good job," Erickson said of her teammates. "And Kaitlyn McColly, who was gone, came back this week and kicked butt today. She really helped us out."

The win over Lustre pitted the Lady Mavericks against Scobey for the District Championship and the Lady Spartans won in three straight, 25-11, 25-8, and 25-15. In the loss, North Country was led in kills and blocks by McColly, 4 and 5 respectively, Strommen had the team's lone ace, Wasson had a game-high 10-digs, and Jaycee Erickson paced the team in assists with 4.

At the time of this writing, the Eastern C Divisional Bracket has not been released, so it isn't yet clear who North Country will play as their postseason slides into week 2, but Coach Wasson said the team needs to keep their foot on the gas.

"We are going to have to keep stepping up our game," Coach Wasson said. "We are young, but we are scrappy, and we showed that in the Lustre game. There are a lot of big shoes to fill."

Jayden Erickson agreed and said communication and sticking to the game plan will only help matters.

"We have to talk out there," Jayden Erickson said. "We have to communicate out there and we have to keep our heads up. We just can't get down on ourselves and have to play our game."