3rd time’s a charm for Dowling, which beats Cedar Rapids Kennedy in regional final

CEDAR RAPIDS — Props to the juniors. They were a big part of a terrific season.

But these seniors. Oh, these seniors.

There were 10 on Cedar Rapids Kennedy's volleyball team, and the thought of them was what brought tears to head coach Michelle Goodall's eyes.

'Some of these kids came up as freshmen,' Goodall said, after her team dropped a four-set match to West Des Moines Dowling in Monday night's Class 5A regional finals at Kennedy. 'Those kids are seriously like your children. It sucks, it does suck to see their season end. But on the other side, as the coach of a high school program, you kind of know that some of them are going to go on and keep spreading their wings. You have to get over it ... It's not just the loss. We've lost 10 times this year. It's not just the loss, it's that we're not practicing anymore. Those types of things. Just hanging out with the kids. That's the hardest part.'

The sixth-ranked Cougars won the opening set, 25-20, but dropped the next three, 26-24, 25-19 and 25-20. Dowling, ranked 11th, hops right back on the bus next week and returns to Cedar Rapids for the state tournament.

Outstanding players like Paige Franck (the Iowa recruit), Gabrielle Meyer, Kayla Joyner, Emma Boote, Kendal Meier and Madison Palmer are done with their prep careers.

'I'd have to say we came out real confident, we looked pretty strong that first set,' Goodall said. 'We looked strong in the second set, for the most part. But we gave them a couple of nice swings, and they were able to capitalize on it. Then they got confidence. They're a different team when they're confident. We watched, I think, 30 matches of them on film, and that's the best I've seen them play. They just rose to the occasion.'

Kennedy (27-11) beat Dowling (27-15) twice at tournaments during the regular season. It looked like a three-peat, of sorts, was in the works here.

Franck's sixth kill ended the first set. The Cougars had a lead as large as 17-13 in the second set, had set point at 24-23 but couldn't finish off the Maroons.

Senior outside hitter Kara Grossman's kill finished off a three-point run for Dowling. She was a beast all night, finishing with 22 kills, including the final one that ended the match.

'I'm excited to come back to Cedar Rapids, for sure,' Grossman said. 'It was a total team effort tonight. We struggled passing in the beginning, but then picked it up, and that helped so much. The middles were always at the net and created a lot of kills for me on the outside. I'm just so proud of us for making it to state.'

'She was just amazing,' said Dowling Coach Mary Beth Wiskus. 'That was the best game of her life, the best game she's ever played. She's a senior, just an amazing all-around person.'

Kennedy led the third set early, 9-8, but Dowling scored the next four points to take the lead back for good. The Maroons scored the first three points of the fourth set and never trailed.

A Grossman kill made it a 21-10 game, but Kennedy didn't go away easily, scoring the next six points to draw within five points. The Cougars got as close as 22-18, but that was it.

'Our front row defense was having a hard time getting their block up on them. That made it really stressful for the back row,' Goodall said. 'I don't know. Hats off to them. We could talk about what we did wrong, but I thought they played an excellent match.'

'I think we just played aggressively and got the runs at the right time,' Wiskus said.

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