Esko Tops Carlton Remains Undefeated

Wes Vork-NSO

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Sept 28

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

ESKO- When Esko and Carlton met Tuesday night in Esko; most observers thought we were going to see a traditional Polar League battle between these two schools. The Bulldogs would start fast in the first game but it was the Eskomos who came back strong and swept the Bulldogs in three straight games. The scores were 25-16, 25-10, and 25-8.

Carlton would jump out front in the first game of the match by building an early 4-0 lead and a lead of 6-1. Timely kills and some unforced errors by Esko saw the Bulldogs out in front. The Eskomos however would correct what was happening on the court and come back strong behind some outstanding serves by Keely Deadrick and timely kills bySteph Bandelin and the Eskomos rolled back to win the first game of the match 25-16.

“We were not ready to play today” Head Coach Barb Soukkala told Northland Sports Online. “When you face a team with the talent they have you need to be ready to play the moment you hit the floor,” Soukkala added “Esko is very good you can’t have mistakes when you play a team like that, especially playing at their school.”

Esko came out and continued to
control the second game of the match jumping out to an early 13-3 lead and they never looked back as they went on to win 25-10. The third and final game of the set saw Esko again building an early lead, this time of 14-2 as they went on to win 25-8 to stay undefeated at 12-0 on the season.

Keely Deadrick had a big night for Esko finishing with 18 set assists, 10 kills and 4 ace serves. Steph Bandelin added 5 block and 9 kills in the win for Esko. Megan Bergstedt ended with 3 blocks, Steph Miller and Janae Beaudot each finished with 4 digs in the Esko victory at home Tuesday night. Marita Yellowhammer finished with 2 ace serves and a kill for the Bulldogs.

Esko remains perfect on the season improving to 12-0 overall, they are in action again Thursday night when the host Wrenshall at home. Carlton falls to 8-5 overall with only their second loss in their last ten matches. Carlton hosts Floodwood on Thursday night.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com