Vikings ease past Savage Heat

The Hot Springs Lady Savage Heat took one on the chin, after their leader, Katelyn Christensen took one to the nose.

In an early-season matchup of District 14C contenders, the Charlo Vikings stopped the Savage Heat 25-14, 22-25, 25-18, 25-15 in Hot Springs Saturday.

Along the way, early in the match, with Hot Springs playing well, Christensen took a hard spike to the face and suffered a bloody nose, which forced her to the sidelines for a time.

“That kind of took the wind out of our sails, sort of ruined our mojo for a while there,” Hot Springs coach Alysha Pablo said. “The mishap happened when we were playing well, we were really on fire. But after that we struggled for a while.”

Although Christensen did stem the flow enough to make her way back and end up being the Heat’s statistical leader for the match, the Vikings still managed to pull away for the win.

Christensen counted 11 kills, two blocks and two service aces to lead Hot Springs and Lizzy Fisher added six assists.

Kassidi Cox put down 18 kills to pace Charlo, Connor Fryberger and Carlee Fryberger had 10 digs apiece, and Connor Fryberger hit 19 assists.

Charlo may have won the match at the service line as they hit 14 aces as a team, with Mila Hawks, Cox, Connor Fryberger and Molly Kate Sullivan slamming three apiece.

In other action last week, the Heat went down to Plains and upended the Trotters 25-18, 25-15, 25-15. Details on that match were not available.

Pablo and her charges have two more matches this week, hosting St. Regis for a District 14C conference match Thursday and taking to the road to visit Darby Saturday.