‘Really focused’ Western Christian sweeps Union in the 3A state volleyball semifinals

CORALVILLE — Try as they might, the Union Community Knights could not recreate the magic.

Coach Brian Jesse’s team pulled off a Class 3A quarterfinal round upset on Tuesday, taking out No. 2 Cherokee in straight sets.

Wednesday's foe was having none of that.

Reigning Class 2A state champion Western Christian has shown that moving up a class hasn't been a problem. The third-ranked Wolfpack have won 18 state titles for a reason. They controlled Wednesday's semifinal from start to finish, posting a 25-14, 25-20, 20-17 win at Xtream Arena.

Coach Tammi Veerbeek's team (31-13) will meet top-ranked Mount Vernon in the title match at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Mustangs advanced with a 3-1 win over Davenport Assumption.

Jesse said his team, which finishes at 39-12, was never able to get into system, crediting the aggressive Wolfpack servers for keeping the Knights off balance.

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“Their serve game is very good,” he said. “That kept us in the hole, but we battled hard. We did some good things, but we just couldn't do enough of the things we talked about consistently.

“They are very good defensively. We had a hard time putting the ball down.”

Western Christian got off to a rocky start in the tournament, losing its first set to Center Point-Urbana and having to battle to gain a 3-1 victory.

“We knew when we dropped a set yesterday, we had to come back with fire,” senior setter Breya Van Kley said. “This year, we have a bunch of new people coming up. We come here every year but a lot of us haven't played here.”

Veerbeek said the first match of every state tournament can be a challenge.

“For whatever reason, those first matches in my experiences here at state can be tough,” she said. “Today, our girls came out really focused. They really wanted to be able to play in another state championship and have another day together.”

One might think, after 23 straight years at state, that it might become routine for Veerbeek.

“That's not the case because there are always new girls every year,” she said. “Every year, it is new people and equally as in every year I want it for these girls. Every year as a coach, you want it for the new batch.”

For Jesse, his 10th state tournament team was a joy to coach.

“I'm proud of our girls, they didn't quit,” he said. “We came down here again this year and made the semifinals, so it was a very successful year.”

Keana Wynja led the Wolverines with 15 kills. Van Kley had 28 assists. Gracie Klima paced Union with 12 kills.