Janesville passes tough early test

CEDAR RAPIDS - Janesville faced a tough test to open its state tournament experience.

In a battle of the last Class 1A state champions, the Wildcats passed, but it wasn't easy.

Third-ranked Janesville advanced with a 25-15, 26-28, 25-21, 25-15 win over No. 6 Holy Trinity in the Class 1A quarterfinals of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union state volleyball tournament Wednesday night at the U.S. Cellular Center. The Wildcats (25-14) will face No. 2 Tripoli (24-14) in Thursday's semifinal.

'It was a great battle as we knew it would be,” Janesville Coach Shelly Sorensen said. 'It wasn't going to be easy and it was two good teams fighting it out.”

The match was filled with long rallies and good defense. The Wildcats persevered to win some of those points.

'You just have to keep pushing and pushing until somebody gives up the ball and makes a mistake,” said Boyle, who led Janesville with 29 assists. 'I think we did a good job of putting the ball in play and pushing to the end.”

The Wildcats streaked to a 20-9 lead in the opening set, winning 10 of 13 points that included one of Kennedy Meister's 20 kills.

In the second set, the Crusaders (31-12) stadged a late comeback. They rallied from a 23-21 deficit to force extra scoring before a Mya Rashid ace and a Wildcat error tied the games at one apiece.

Janesville made sure that didn't happen again, earning four of the last six points to win the third. Meister closed that with a kill, even though the Crusaders managed a 6-2 edge to pull within 22-19.

'I think we were just disappointed in ourselves,” Boyle said about dropping the second set. 'We knew we could have done better. We had confidence and there was no reason we couldn't have taken that set. We came back in and we're like we are going to take this.”

Janesville jumped to a 4-0 lead in the fourth thanks to another Meister kill. The Crusaders continued to battle, taking a 12-10 lead. The Wildcats answer with a five-point run and taking seven of the final eight points to secure the victory.

'We got everybody to get their energy up again and have fun,” Meister said. 'Energy can change everything.”

Meister and Gillian Gergen tied for a game-high 20 kills. Freshman Bree Thompson added 16 for the Wildcats.

'They all did a nice job of adjusting,” Sorensen said. 'Holy Trinity dug up a lot of our big swings and you can get frustrated by that but you have to stay composed and keep working until you can find an open spot on the court.”

Meister also had a game-high four aces. She showed her decision-making ability with a bump to the back corner and a dump behind the Crusaders front line for two crucial points in the fourth set. Being on the same page as her teammates paid dividends for the sophomore.

'Just working with the setters a lot and communicating with each other,” Meister said. 'It helped out a lot.”

Madlyn Orton led Holy Trinity with 16 kills and Emily Box had 11. Rashid had 16 assists, while Ali Randolph pitched in 15 and two aces. Janesville's three-prong attack was hard to match.

'Our defense did an amazing job,” Box said. 'Their offense made it so much more difficult to pick up the ball.”

The victory sets up a rematch between Janesville and Tripoli. The Wildcats will look to avenge an earlier setback.

'They got us earlier this year in a great five-set match,” Sorensen said. 'It should be a great rematch.”

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