NILES —The Niles Vikings volleyball team played host to the Mishawaka Cavemen on Monday night and came away victorious 3-1.
Both teams were pretty evenly matched and it showed on the scoreboard.
Niles and Mishawaka exchanged point for point in the first game until Mishawaka took a 15-13 lead. Now trailing by two points, the Vikings would score four consecutive points, and nine of the next 13 building a 22-19 lead before the Cavemen stormed back to tie the game at 22.  Senior Taylor Brandstatter came in for the Vikings and served the last three points for the home team as they took the first game 25-22.
The second game was once again back and forth as the visitors clung to a slim 15-14 lead before pulling ahead 24-18. The Vikings scored the next three points, but it wasn’t enough, as they would eventually fall 25-19.
Niles jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the third game and built that lead to 17-8 before Mishawaka stormed back to cut the lead to 17-14, but it was as close as they would get as Niles pulled away for the 25-17 victory.
The fourth game was the best of the night as the two teams battled to a 10-10 tie. Niles pulled out to a 15-11 lead, but Mishawaka came right back to tie the game at 15. Niles increased their lead to 24-20, but once again Mishawka stormed right back cutting the lead to 24-23 but a long serve by Maria Tomlinson ended the night with the Vikings taking the 25-23 win.
Ashley Love led the way for the Vikings with 22 kills, and three blocks, while Miranda Baker contributed 13 kills and four blocks. But the big statistics for Niles that helped carry them came in the number of digs the team had. Haines led the team with 37, Love had 28, Brandstatter 24, and Hoff with 15.
“We struggled in serve receive in games one and two. We changed up and our servicing passing unit of Maggie Hoff and Taylor Brandstatter, Ashley Love and Brea Haines got the job done,” said Niles coach Linda Martin. “They (Mishawaka) were very aggressive serving.”
Also, contributing for the Vikings were Lashonda Greene with six kills and Devon Floor with six kills and five blocks.  Michelle Briand and Cortney Shirrell each had five kills, and Shirrell also had 34 assists.