The Vikings fell yet again to the Wolves this week, as the second District 219 traveling trophy was taken by West to be kept at the school until next year. The North girls varsity volleyball team lost its mid-week grudge match to Niles West.

“It was really disappointing for our team to lose this match; it was really important to us,” junior Alethea Busch said. “We really wanted to get the trophy back in our possession.”

Even though the Viking varsity volleyballers lost, their record is still 6-2,  a solid reflection of efforts given by the team and players. In Wednesday’s game varsity veterans and newbies made their mark on that court, win or loss.

The game started with a kill by Niles West, but that didn’t discourage anyone as North senior Emma Ciborowski returned the favor with a kill to even out the score. Then Niles West missed on the serve and North was awarded another point. Ciborowski contiued to impress the crowd by making another great play and blocking the kill by West’s Olivia Rusek.

By the end of the first set, North had  five kills, 11 digs (four by senior Samantha Acance, and three by libero Rachel Matthies). Ciborowski’s two blocks were the only ones of that game which ended at 25- 16 Vikings.

The second set looked much better as the girls got their momentum going, even though they didn’t look so hot in the first set. “It would have been easy for us to be deflated after losing game one, but we were right there in game two and had opportunities to win,” coach Michael Cott said.

Taylor Louis made four of the seven kills in the second game. Matthies executed four of the team’s seven digs.

The last set may have ended in heartbreak as West retained the trophy, but the team did not give up, especially dynamic players like Karime Assaf, who assisted in four blocks in the last few plays of the game. Assisting Lopez, sophomore Amanda Greene two times, and junior Taylor Lewis to keep the ball rolling in the last set. “We’ve set high expectations for ourselves and are working extremely hard to achieve that,” senior captain Andrea Lopez said.

“However,at the end of the day it didn’t matter that we lost, it mattered how we got there and how hard we fought in those games,”  Busch said. “Winning teaches you nothing, but losing teaches you all the things you need to improve on. We learned a lot and came away stronger. Our fight this year isn’t over, and when we verse west again, I’m sure we’ll dominate.”

Check out the team before the season’s over, or tonight as the girls take on Regina. The team will take on Deerfield this Monday (away).

Also lookout for photos and exclusive footage of the game.