Liberty will play reigning champion Pleasant Valley for the 5A state volleyball crown

CORALVILLE — A high school volleyball season can be a grind.

Forty-ish matches over a nine- or 10-week span. Those long Saturdays. Those long bus rides.

“It’s a long season,” Shelby Kimm said. “But now we’re where we’ve always wanted to be.

“And now that we’re here, we might as well go out with a win.”

Kimm and fellow seniors Cassidy Hartman and Lilah Van Scoyoc led the way at the net, as usual, and top-ranked Iowa City Liberty fought past No. 6 Ankeny Centennial in four sets (25-21, 25-19, 18-25, 25-22) in a Class 5A semifinal at the state volleyball tournament Wednesday morning at Xtream Arena.

“A lot of emotions,” said Hartman, a UNI commit. “This was another step toward our goal. All of those tough days, all of those practices are paying off. I’m so happy to be doing this with these teammates.”

A state qualifier for the fourth straight year, Liberty (32-8) is in the championship match for the second time; the Lightning were runners-up in 2020.

They’ll face No. 3 Pleasant Valley (29-6) for the 5A crown at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Pleasant Valley is the defending champion and swept No. 10 West Des Moines Valley on Wednesday. The Lightning and the Spartans split two regular-season matches.

“We’ve got to control what we can do,” sophomore setter Asta Hildebrand said. “This will be a great way to send off our seniors.”

Liberty rallied from an 18-15 deficit in the first set with a 10-3 closing rush, then erased a 17-15 disadvantage in the second with a 10-2 surge.

Centennial (30-10) sped away in the third set after trailing 13-12, then Liberty had the final, fateful swing.

Trailing 14-13, the Lightning scored eight of nine points, with Hartman and Kimm knocking down two kills apiece.

At 24-18, Centennial fought off four match points. But a Jaguars attack error finally ended it and sent Liberty into the finals.

“I’m really proud of the girls and the grit they showed,” Liberty Coach Allie Kelly said. “We had a little slippage in Game 3, but we got over it.”

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A former assistant, Kelly was elevated to co-head coach along with Randy Dolson last year. Dolson retired after 2021, leaving Kelly in charge.

“Randy did an excellent job in setting me up for success,” Kelly said. “These seniors of ours, they’re no joke. I’m blessed with this group.”

Hartman finished with a match-high 22 kills, but did spray 12 attack errors. She was a bit erratic early in the quarterfinal win over Urbandale, as well.

“I think my best match (of the tournament) is still ahead,” she said. “I think you’ll see it (Thursday).”

Kimm posted 11 kills, Van Scoyoc 10. Hildebrand added seven kills to go with 31 assists.

“I just wanted to mix it up a little bit,” Hildebrand said of her early attacks.

Jaeden Pratt led Centennial with 10 kills.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com