Noxon upsets top-rated Charlo

The volleyball epicenter Saturday night could easily be traced to mid court of the Charlo High School gym.

But the shock waves and aftershocks are expected to linger for awhile throughout the region.

That’s what happens when the reigning queens of area class B/C volleyball taste conference 14C defeat for the first time in at least three years, as did the Charlo Lady Vikings who were upended by a scrappy bunch of Lady Red Devils from Noxon, 3-2.

The Lady Vikings were riding a wave of senior night euphoria and a 10-0 Western 14C league record coming into the match against coach Dana Grupenhoff’s 5-6 Lady Devils.

However, from the opening set, something felt different about the match, which unfolded with a hard-fought 25-23 win for the visiting Red Devils in a set that was tied 10 times before Noxon claimed victory.

In a volleyball year where a set loss by the Lady Vikings was a rarity, the nearly full-house crowd of partisans hardly seemed to notice to 1-0 match deficit the home girls were in.

No one seemed to notice the tremor brewing out on the court, especially after Charlo battled back for a 25-23 set two win that tied the match at one set each.

The sense that the first set loss was a blip on an otherwise clear sailing evening restored any feeling of jitters when the home team reverted to their season long dominating selves and breezed to a 25-12 third set win and a routine 2-1 match lead.

Then, it happened.

In a stunning reversal of set three, where Charlo grabbed an early lead and never came close to trailing, it was suddenly Noxon making the hustling digs and pounding hard kill shots.

It was Noxon sustaining volleys by diving for every seemingly loose ball.

And it was the Lady Red Devils who led from start to finish on their way to a match tying 25-16 game four triumph that set up volleyball’s version of winner-take-all, loser go home, otherwise known as the 15-point fifth set.

At that point, the fans’ focus had returned squarely to center court, a sense of calm still prevailing as the tremors of defeat vibrated the wooden benches.

After winning the set five coin toss, Charlo elected to serve first. Noxon won the first point, Charlo tied the score at one, then again at two, but from then on the tidal wave of the inevitable had overtaken the court.

Noxon continued it’s hustling aggressiveness and built a 4-3 lead into 12-5 seemingly in the blink of a disbelieving home town eye.

Showing why they are perennially successful in 14C play, Charlo seemed to pull it all together, cutting the Noxon lead to 14-9.

But the final point, and the match victory, slammed into the Lady Viking clad gym floor as the Noxon crew broke out in a well-contained moment of victory that to so many seemed impossible.

They had stunned the local volleyball world and beat Charlo on their home court.

Not in the last three years had Charlo lost a regular season match, either at home or on the road. And despite the loss, they remain two games ahead of the rest of the 14C field, with a 10-1 league mark. Superior, 8-3 and St. Regis 7-3 are basically tied for second, while Hot Springs sits at 6-6 and Noxon is now 6-6.

When the dust had settled, statistics showed what many could not believe, that Noxon had played even up with the tall and talented Charlo front line. The Lady Red Devils got five aces, nine kills and nine blocks from senior standout Emily Brown, along with 15 assists from Seanna Richter.

That up front play helped neutralize and in many cases negate the six service aces and 22 assists recorded by Charlo’s Payton Smith. Charlo also got three aces, 10 kills, five blocks and six digs from Leah Cahoon, but it was not enough to offset the gritty scrappiness of Noxon.

The Lady Red Devils have two games remaining prior to the 14C District tournament October 28 in Ronan. They traveled to Valley Christian this past Monday, then are scheduled to return home for a match with winless Two Eagle River this coming Thursday.