Heelan looking healthy in upset of No. 3 Waverly-Shell Rock

CEDAR RAPIDS – For the first time all season, Sioux City Heelan looked more like their old selves.

Senior setter Taylor Ferguson – out nearly five weeks with a stress fracture in her right ankle – played stronger than she has at any time since her return, delivering 34 assists and nine digs as the eighth-ranked Crusaders dispatched No. 3 Waverly-Shell Rock, 18-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-8, in a Class 4A volleyball state quarterfinal Tuesday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

'Taylor's always pretty good,” Heelan Coach Mary Miller said. 'Tonight, she was phenomenal. … She's just so driven.”

Heelan (31-13) will face second-ranked Harlan (36-5) in a 4A semifinal Thursday at noon. It's another step for a young Crusaders' team that fell in five sets in last year's first round.

'I think the way that things ended last year, we definitely set a goal this year that we wanted to get back there,” said outside hitter Grace Hanno, who recorded a game-high 14 kills and 23 digs. 'We're going to keep setting goals and hopefully achieving them.”

Waverly-Shell Rock (42-10) claimed Game 1 with a 12-6 closing burst and appeared ready to apply some pressure with two quick points in Game 2. Heelan adjusted, Ferguson started setting up Hanno with well-placed sets, and the Crusaders raced out, 11-6.

'We just stuck together as a team,” Ferguson said. 'We didn't break apart. We weren't really following our game plan the first set. After that, Coach told us we needed to figure it out and start hitting the zones that we've been practicing. Stuck together and finished it out.”

Heelan led by as much as seven points in Game 2 when a Hanno ace put them up, 22-15. The Go-Hawks started strong in the third game and led, 14-9, before Heelan closed with 16 of 23 points. The decisive fourth game lacked dramatics, as the Crusaders slammed Waverly-Shell Rock with a 16-2 elimination surge.

'Our balance with our upper hitters opened her (Hanno) and Allie (Cooke) up,” Miller said.

Cooke added 13 kills and 16 digs. Makayla Fincher recorded 15 digs and 22 assists for Waverly-Shell Rock.

'Give Heelan credit,” Waverly-Shell Rock Coach EaVon Woodin said. 'They came out and I think they wanted it more than we did. They played a good game, and we tried to fight back and things just didn't go our way.”

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