Porter adds to Bulldogs' strength

CEDAR RAPIDS -- It's not as if Bettendorf needed yet another weapon.

The Bulldogs returned their top two players from last year's Class 5A state-championship team. But their best was yet to come.

Devan Porter arrived to the Quad Cities in January, adding to an already super-stacked roster.

"I had heard rumors that she might be coming, but I wasn't going to believe anything until she actually came," said Bettendorf Coach Diane Lichtenberg.

An all-stater from Tennessee (she prepped at St. Agnes Academy in Memphis), the 6-foot outside hitter moved with her family after her father took a job at John Deere.

Porter's mother, Carrie, had played at Davenport North.

"I was excited -- really excited," she said. "This has been a great experience, playing on a team with so much talent. The competition here is so much better."

Porter is one of three Division-I commitments for the Bulldogs (35-2), who swept Dubuque Hempstead in the Class 5A quarterfinals Tuesday.

Anna Willey will attend Liberty University. Caitlin Wernentin has chosen UNLV. And Porter will go to Georgia.

Porter leads the Bulldogs in kills (3.07 per game) and owns a .376 kill efficiency. She is second on the team in digs, with 215.

"She's a very solid all-around player," Lichtenberg said. "Very quick, very athletic. She can hammer the ball."

The Bulldogs face No. 3 Ankeny Centennial in the semifinals Thursday. 

FIRST-TIME SEMIFINALISTS

Three of the four teams in the Class 5A semifinals will be making their first trips to the semifinals.

It just so happens all three are also in the Central Iowa Metro League.

West Des Moines Dowling, Urbandale and Ankeny Centennial all won their first-round matches and will meet for a second time this season.

'It feels amazing. That was one of our main goals at the beginning of the season,' said Urbandale senior Kyla Inderski. 'It's crazy we've never made it and we knew from the start that's what we were practicing for, that's what we were playing for.

'We came out strong and we took it. Feels awesome.'

Inderski said it's cool to be part of making history for her school, but also is very proud of all her fellow Des Moines-area schools advancing.

She said it represents her area well and cheered for both Dowling and its opening-round opponent Ankeny as the J-Hawks watched from the sideline prior to their match against Pleasant Valley.

'I love representing Des Moines, because I think we're a little underestimated in Iowa,' Inderski said. 'We always cheer on our (area) teams.'

Davenport Assumption also won its first state match, outlasting West Delaware in a 4A five-setter.

(Jeremiah Davis contributed to this report)