By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Buchanan's varsity volleyball team visited the Niles gym Monday evening and took home a non-conference win against the Vikings in five games.
The Bucks opened the night with a 25-14 win, before falling in two games to the Vikes, 25-22 and 25-5.
But the final two games decided the outcome as Buchanan took the 25-22 and 15-13 wins in the final two games.
The victory was the first against Niles for second year head coach Lisa Holok, who was very pleased with her teams performance.
Vikings head coach Jami Foster, on the other hand, was not so happy with the performance her team put on.
After taking the first game win, Buchanan let the second game slip away.
The Bucks were able to tie the game at 20 and 21 points, but a strong net performance from freshman Katie Bourbonnais and hot serving from sophomore Karly Kennedy sealed the second game victory for the Vikes.
In the third game, a lot of errors caused Buchanan to score only five points. Niles took advantage of the Bucks' break down and went on to win, 25-5.
The fourth game saw a reverse of rolls as Niles was the team stirring up a lot of errors.
Kills in the net, missed serves and lack of communication caused the Vikings big problems early in the game.
But with the score showing 19-14, senior Claire Molnar took charge and sent four kills in a row over the net, bringing Niles within one point, 19-18, of Buchanan.
After tying the game at 19 and 20 points, a tip from Mehgan Flynn and a a serve from Kylee Mudd put the Vikes up by two, 22-20.
Unfortunately, that lead was short lived as two kills from Buchanan's Mattie Arndt and two Niles errors allowed the Bucks to take the 25-22 win.
In the fifth and final game, the Bucks took an early lead, only to see it disappear and the Vikings on the verge of a win.
A kill by Kennedy allowed Niles to take a 10-9 lead for the first time in the final match.
Bourbonnais also allowed Niles to go ahead by one after the Bucks tied the game at 12 when she tipped the ball for one point.
But a tip over the net from Buchanan's Emily Ross, a kill from Katie Backus and a Niles defensive error allowed the Bucks to claim the game.
Ross ended the night with 30 assists, seven blocks and eight aces for Buchanan. Hayley Burks had nine kills, Arndt had six kills and Jill Woodrick had 16 digs.
For Niles, Maddy Peterek had 14 assists, 13 digs and one ace. Molnar had eight kills and 12 digs and Kennedy had 25 digs, six kills and three aces.