In only Year 3, Waukee Northwest has a state volleyball title in its possession

CORALVILLE — Well, that didn’t take long.

In only its third year as a school, Waukee Northwest has climbed the big-school volleyball summit.

Third-ranked Northwest surged ahead for good midway through Game 5, and outlasted No. 1 West Des Moines Dowling for the Class 5A state championship, 25-22, 25-15, 17-25, 19-25, 15-12, Thursday morning at Xtream Arena.

“You get this far, and you either fall a little short or you go all the way,” said Northwest’s Katrina Pelds, the captain of the all-tournament team.

“We decided to go all the way.”

Northwest (27-9) won for the second time in four matches against Dowling this season.

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Photos: Waukee Northwest vs. Dowling in Class 5A state volleyball championship

“Anything is possible,” Pelds said. “No. 3 beat No. 2 (Ankeny Centennial, in the semifinals), then beat No. 1. If you would have told me, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

The Wolves were the superior team in the first two sets, then Dowling (32-8) squared the match with one-sided wins in the third and fourth.

Game 5 was tied, 4-4, before Northwest went on its fateful run, an 8-2 job that put the Wolves in control, 12-6.

“We needed to get in system a little better,” Dowling Coach Mary Beth Wiskus said. “But the girls fought really hard, coming back from 0-2.”

The Maroons rallied their way back within 14-12, but when Pelds’ kill clinched it, the customary dogpile was a pack of Wolves.

“A Waukee team had never done this,” Northwest’s Chloe Jones said. “This was for our school, for our town.”

Jones joined Pelds on the all-tournament team, along with Dowling’s Annalisa Grant, Mackenzie Dean and Ella Rogers, and Delaney Miller and Jaedan Pratt of Centennial.

Dean recorded 13 kills for the Maroons.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com