By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
The Niles varsity volleyball team may have lost its volleyball match against St. Joe in three games, but coach Jami Foster is not too upset.
The win put the Bears in first place in the Big 16 Conference West Division.
The Vik-ings lacked on defense in the first game, allowing St. Joe to take a quick lead. They had a hard time digging kills from the Bears' offense. They lost the first match 8-25.
In the second game the Vikings were more focused on offense and defense. They were digging more kills from St. Joe's powerful spikers, they were getting some kills of their own and had some excellent blocks up front from Britteny Passig, who had 14 for the Vikings.
With the effort given, Niles was able to tie the second game up at 24.
Although St. Joe went on to win the match 26-24, it seemed frustrated with the way Niles was able to comeback.
The third game also went well for the Vikings. They were never able to take the lead or tie it up, but they came within three points and again played very well on offense and defense. Niles lost the third match 16-25.
Amber Peters had 38 assists for the Vikings.
Karly Kennedy gave the Vikings seven kills. Britteny Passig had 14 blocks, five kills for Niles. Ashley Pingel had 11 digs and Kaylynn Stephenson had nine.
The Vikings now stand 1-3 in the conference, 8-10-3 overall.
Niles will travel to the Buck Classic Tournament this Saturday in Buchanan.