2nd game rally helps Xavier upset City High

CEDAR RAPIDS - She's hanging it up.“Second-year head coach, the second time to state,” said Cedar Rapids Xavier volleyball coach Barb Brunow. “I don't know. I might quit after this year.”Brunow was only joking, of course. She's got a lot more coaching to do, including next week at the state tournament.Xavier earned a repeat trip there with a four-set upset of second-ranked Iowa City High in a Class 4A regional final last night at Cedar Rapids Washington. The sixth-ranked Saints (29-11) play their state quarterfinal Wednesday afternoon against an unknown foe at the U.S. Cellular Center.They'll be savoring this 25-22, 28-26, 15-25, 25-18 win a little bit longer first, however.“So exciting, so fun,” said Xavier's Tyler Sampson. “We wanted this so bad.”Look directly at the second game as the difference maker. City High (33-6) looked to even the match by building a 17-9 lead, only to suddenly see Xavier rally for a 24-22 game point.The Little Hawks, who beat the Saints two of three matches in the regular season, came back for a 26-25 game point of their own, only to have Xavier secure the final three points and essentially the match.“After the second game, we knew,” said Xavier libero Bailey Kaloupek. “We're just coached to never give up. We always believe in each other and ourselves. When you go out to battle, you've got to trust everyone you're playing with. You can come back from any deficit if you can trust each other.”“We had to stay focused and not give up,” Sampson said. “We really wanted it, that was the main thing. I think we knew we could take it.”City High rolled to a Game 3 victory, but it was pretty much all Xavier in Game 4. A Kaloupek ace and City High mishit made it a 17-9 game and forced Little Hawks Coach Craig Pitcher to call timeout.City High eventually got within 20-16 on a Dani Pettigrew kill, but that as close as the Little Hawks would get. A series of mistakes, including a hit into the net on match point, ended things a short time later.“The third set was a wakeup call for them,” Brunow said. “We knew coming into this that we didn't want to go five. We've gone five too many times with too many teams. It's not worth it. Let's it done as soon as we can.”“This really means a lot,” said Kaloupek, one of nine seniors on the team. “A lot of us have been starting since freshman year ... It's anybody's game (at state). We've just got to put our mind to it.”Here is a short video interview with Kaloupek: