Experienced Springville clears first hurdle at state volleyball

CEDAR RAPIDS — They've done it all in basketball.

In volleyball, there's still a void. Still something to accomplish.

Something big.

'We want to win the whole thing,' Mikayla Nachazel said.

Second-ranked Springville took another step in that direction Wednesday night, sweeping No. 8 North Tama, 25-15, 25-21, 25-21, in a Class 1A state quarterfinal at the U.S. Cellular Center.

The Orioles (39-2) had a big advantage in big-stage experience. The majority of their top players have been to the state finals in basketball three straight years, winning two titles.

And they've been here three years in a row.

They'll face No. 3 LeMars Gehlen (28-6) in a semifinal match at 6 p.m. Thursday. Gehlen rallied from a two-set deficit Wednesday to defeat No. 7 Tripoli.

'It's going to be a battle,' Springville Coach Claude Howard said. 'They're going to move the ball around. They're going to stretch us.'

Springville will stretch right back. The Orioles are a multi-weapon crew.

Nachazel and Alyssa Jaeger posted 11 kills apiece, and Rylee Menster added nine. Madi Wagaman collected 33 assists and 17 digs.

'We wanted to keep our offense running as fast as we could,' Wagaman said.

North Tama concluded its first state-tournament season with a 29-8 mark. The Redhawks return nearly all of their roster for 2018.

'This is definitely going to help us. We're going to work even harder and set the bar higher,' said sophomore middle hitter Katie Kopriva, whose 12 kills made up nearly half of North Tama's offensive output.

Springville had its way through the first set, then held off mild challenges in the next two.

The Redhawks fought off four set points in the second set before Menster's kill ended it.

A four-point surge late in Game 3 got the Redhawks within 22-20, but kills by Nachazel and Sami Johnson kept the Orioles out of trouble.

'(North Tama) went on some runs, but I think it was because of what happened on our side of the net,' Howard said. 'We didn't handle our serve reception real well at times.'

Redhawks Coach Channing Halstead said, 'I thought we could expose their passing. Once we got our serves where we wanted, it kept us in the last two sets.

'I don't think we showed what we had. We had flurries, but we weren't consistent enough. It showed we are still young, and they've been down here the last three years.'

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