New league, new look for CVCS

Cedar Valley Christian has lost its independence, and isn't complaining a bit.The Huskies made their debut as a member of the Tri-Rivers Conference on Tuesday, winning their first East Division match in four games at Clinton Prince of Peace."It's a nice way to start," said Coach Jeff Pospisil. "(Prince of Peace) beat us a couple Saturdays ago, and it was nice to get that one back."This is Year 3 for Cedar Valley Christian as a school sanctioned by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and Iowa High School Athletic Association. The Huskies competed as an independent their first two years, compiling records of 1-28 and 6-28.Progress has been swift this year. Cedar Valley is 9-7 overall, 1-0 in the Tri-Rivers East. The Huskies dropped a five-set non-divisional match Sept. 12 at Central City.The Tri-Rivers was reshaped by the Iowa Department of Education in 2012, and the change became official with this school year."It was OK as an independent, but we like this a lot," said Pospisil, who also serves as the school's principal. "We'll like the consistency of playing the same teams and becoming familiar with them, and we'll like having something to compete for at the end of the season."Numbers are not an issue with the volleyball program. There are 18 girls out in grades 9-12.The statistics are modest: Junior Shelby Hembera and senior Jessie Walsh are the leaders in kills, with slightly more than 1 per game apiece."We don't have the huge girl that gets a load of kills, and the level of athleticism isn't tremendously high, but the girls don't get down on themselves or each other," Pospisil said. "They're really a fun group to coach."We were without a couple starters (Tuesday), and we got smoked (25-15) the first game, but we were able to pull together."Cedar Valley has four divisional matches remaining, including its home opener Thursday against Easton Valley."Hopefully we can be in the hunt," Pospisil said. "The good teams that have lots of talent, they'll have to help us out for us to beat them, but I think there's some matches out there that we can win."

NOT A LOSER IN THE BUNCHWith the progress at Cedar Valley Christian and the swift turnaround at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, there was not a Metro team with a losing record after Tuesday's matches.Despite a five-game loss to Kennedy on Tuesday, Xavier has the best record in town at 10-4. Kennedy is 8-6, Jefferson and Washington 7-6.Linn-Mar (7-7), Marion (6-6) and Prairie (5-5) are squarely on the .500 mark.Jefferson was 4-33 last year but has taken off behind new coach Mary Kay Van Oort and sophomore hitter Amanda Ollinger. Xavier (Krista Johnson), Linn-Mar (Teresa Kehe) and Washington (Amy Faulkner) also have new coaches.

NELSON RETURN: PROBABLY NEXT WEEKIowa City High was without all-stater Michaela Nelson (mild concussion) in its three-set loss at Dubuque Hempstead on Tuesday.Nelson suffered the condition the previous Tuesday at Linn-Mar. City High Coach Craig Pitcher said his star has been cleared to practice, but won't play at the Dike-New Hartford Tournament on Saturday.She is expected back for City's MVC match at home against Xavier next Tuesday.