No. 1 Pella rallies from the brink to oust Heelan in five

CEDAR RAPIDS — No. 1 was in deep, deep trouble against a tournament mainstay.

6-foot-2 sophomore middle hitter Emily Holterhaus recorded a team-high 20 and added 12 digs and five blocks as top-ranked Pella rallied for a 20-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-14, 15-11 victory over No. 4 Sioux City Heelan in a Class 4A volleyball state tournament semifinal Thursday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

'We just didn't want to give up at all,' Holterhaus said. 'We didn't want this season to end today. We wanted to push as far as we could.'

Heelan (35-9) owns 22 state-tournament appearances and three titles. The Crusaders rebounded from a 15-12 deficit in Game 1 and won, 25-20. Pella closed the second game with 13 of 15 points and seemed to have reasserted itself, but Heelan claimed Game 3 and pushed the 3A No. 1 to the brink of elimination.

'We knew we just had to play our game,' Holterhaus said. 'We didn't have to do anything special. They are such a great team. They got a lot of balls up that we usually don't have teams get up against us. It was a really tough challenge, but we knew we could get through it.'

Pella (38-4) got through it by getting aggressive with its service game and getting tough on the block. Senior middle hitter Katie Vander Molen had six of Pella's 21 blocks, while senior outside hitter Kiara Bradley added four. Heelan managed just 14 points in Game 4, which set the stage for a winner-take-all fifth game. It was the first five-setter for Pella this season.

'I told them right before it started, 'Why not in the state tournament? We can play volleyball all day if we have to,'' Pella Coach Catie Brand said.

Heelan charged out for the deciding game and grabbed a 10-8 lead, but dropped seven of the final eight points. The last-gasp surge delivered Pella to its first state championship match Friday at 12:15 p.m. against second-ranked Dubuque Wahlert (27-6).

'It is so satisfying,' said senior libero Jenna Murphy, who collected a game-high 22 digs. 'I'm so happy. I cried after and we didn't even lose and I cried.'

Pella has won 29 matches in a row. A 30th will bring a state championship.

'We know who they have, and Wahlert is always a contender,' Brand added. 'We will be ready.'

Junior middle hitter Samantha McCabe recorded a game-high 21 kills for Heelan, while Allie Cooke added 13. McCabe, Cooke and Maddie Uhl each tallied 13 digs.

'We weren't really focused in,' McCabe said of the fourth game. 'I think we thought we'd just be able to come out and they'd die on us but they're a good team so they're not going to do that. We really couldn't get our serve-receive down and that hurt us a lot.'

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