Serving helps inexperienced Pleasant Valley get past Johnston in 5A state volleyball quarterfinals

CORALVILLE — Amber Hall saw the talent her Pleasant Valley team possesses.

She also saw some state tournament inexperience.

Fortunately for the Spartans, the talent ruled the day as PV outlasted No. 5 Johnston, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-20, in a Class 5A state volleyball quarterfinal on Monday at Xtream Arena.

The fourth-ranked Spartans (28-5) advance to meet top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling in a 10 a.m. semifinal on Wednesday. No. 5 Johnston finishes at 32-7.

Hall had to replace 10 seniors from last year's state runner-up team. This edition of the Spartans lost a tough first set, won a tight second set and got out to big leads in the third and fourth sets only to see Johnston rally in both.

“I think we may have gotten too comfortable and they thought maybe they already had it won,” Hall said. “They had to wake up and realize that they were playing a really good team.

Recommended Reading

State volleyball photos: Pleasant Valley vs. Johnston

“I thought that maybe that showed some of our youth and inexperience being in those types of situations. They learned they can't take anything for granted and just really have to go after every point.”

Junior Stella Smith said the key for the Spartans was keeping a high intensity level when Johnston made its big runs.

“We just had to keep our energy up,” she said. “We had to limit our errors because they are a really good team. (Johnston) just continued to push us.”

A key factor in the victory was PV's serving. Smith had four ace serves and the Spartans had 14 as a team.

“I was very proud of our performance with serving,” Hall said. “You don't always get the consistency you want along with the tough serves. Today we got both. It was one of our best serving days of the season.”

Smith led a balanced offensive attack with 14 kills. Isabelle Kremer added 12 and Mazie Sweers had 10. Ava Helming led Johnston with a match-high 23 kills.