LAKEWOOD — When the Lady Vikings stepped into the gym earlier this summer, they were already looking forward to Oct. 28 as they set a preseason goal of gaining entry to the district tournament.

After squeaking by the South Kitsap Wolves, 3-1, Saturday morning, they accomplished that feat, becoming the first NK squad led by head coach Tim French to get to that level.

“If you work hard enough, good things will happen, and good things did happen,” French said. “It’s just a feeling of pride. The girls have the saying, ‘Play hard, have fun.’ They do play hard and I think they’ve earned it.”

With the district-qualifying win — and subsequent loss later that day to Gig Harbor, settling NK at the Narrows League No. 6 seed — the Vikings (5-7 league, 8-9 overall) have earned a date with the South Puget Sound League’s No. 2 seeded team — Rogers — at 1 p.m. Nov. 3 in the West Central District tournament at Kentwood High School.

The top seven of the Narrows League’s eight teams advanced.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” French said. “It’s not impossible. It’s there in front of us, and we’ve got as good a chance as anybody.”

After facing and battling the Narrows League No. 2 Central Kitsap to five sets in their final home game of the season, the Vikings’ confidence has ballooned. Though the Cougars rebounded with a shutout over North two days later, the Vikings entered the district tournament with poise.

Losing a hard fought game to South Kitsap in the teams’ opening set 25-20, the Vikes proved their resiliency as they came back with a 25-23 nail-biter in game two followed by intrepid 25-16 and 25-18 wins to take the match.

Though the Viking serving percentage was sub-par at .884 percent, an aggressively straight forward offense provided the momentum which carried North to victory.

Amy Johnson had 29 assists on the match, feeding Katie Richards who finished with nine kills, six digs and Jessica Oullet who smashed eight kills.

“We had a really balanced attack that seemed to keep South on their heels,” French said, adding that North was the aggressor for most of the match. “But we missed 13 serves against Gig Harbor and that would disrupt any momentum that we were able to gain.”

Against the Tides in a battle for the No. 5 seed late Saturday, a poor serving percentage spelled doom as the Gig took advantage early in what would be a very tight match.

After the Tides took the first two games by counts of 25-22 and 25-19, the Vikings stood up and stole game three 25-19. But in the final set, Gig Harbor ended with the upper hand, 25-23.

North Senior KC Fossum led the Viking offense with nine kills while Richards smashed seven. Oullet had six kills and four digs while Cox doled out 25 assists.

“None of us have ever gone to districts, much less league,” Cox said of the fledgling district bound squad. “We just have to go in with open minds and know that we can play at that high level like we did agianst Central.”

“The focus has to be on our game. We just need to play our game,” French said, noting the extreme importance of the Vikings getting touches at the net while staying balanced in their attack. “If you are playing well you could be surprised at what you can do.”