4 sets, 39 kills: Reese Naeve powers Iowa City Regina to the state volleyball tournament

GRINNELL — Pick any superlative. It wouldn’t have done Reese Naeve justice Wednesday night.

“She was amazing,” setter Nora Wilhelm said.

Even that accolade seemed to fall short.

Naeve recorded 39 kills, leading eighth-ranked Iowa City Regina past No. 9 Pella Christian in a four-set Class 2A volleyball regional final at Grinnell High School.

Set scores were 25-15, 14-25, 25-11 and 25-16.

A 5-foot-8 junior outside hitter committed to Iowa State, Naeve entered the match with a gaudy 7.5-kill-per-set average.

This masterpiece validated those numbers, and then some. In the most important match of the season, she coaxed the Regals (24-14) to their first state-tournament appearance since 2017.

“It was definitely up there” among her best matches, Naeve said.

“I can’t give enough credit to my teammates. Our setter (Wilhelm) stepped into her role, and absolutely killed it.”

Regina will face No. 2 Eddyville EBF (34-2) in a 2A first-rounder at 2:25 Tuesday afternoon at Xtream Arena, Coralville.

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“I’m super proud,” Regina Coach Lauren Hansen said. “The girls played loose. They focused on our side. They played some of the best volleyball I’ve seen them play.

“Reese was unreal. She just let it loose. She was flying.”

Naeve got better as the match progressed, drilling 11 kills in the third set, 13 in the fourth.

Front row. Back row. Didn’t matter.

Out of system? So what?

She was a marvel. Her official numbers: 39 kills, four errors, 73 swings, .479 kill efficiency.

“I’m so pumped,” Naeve said. “We’d fallen short the last two years. We were going to take it as far as we could. Before we got in the gym tonight, we thought we were going to win, each and every one of us.”

None of the four sets were particularly compelling. Regina scored the first five points of the match and rolled in the opener.

Pella Christian (24-12) answered in Game 2, then the second major momentum swing was final.

“They have stronger middles than we have,” Hansen said. “So we needed to keep them out of system.”

Wilhelm said, “We had to adjust. We had to slow down their middles, play our game and stay confident.”

Naeve clobbered four consecutive kills in a six-point Regina run early in Game 3, then had six more in a 6-1 surge that put the Regals in front 7-3 in the fourth set.

Pella Christian forged a 10-10 tie, then Regina’s Caitlin Martin had a run of three kills that put the Regals in front to stay, 15-11.

Martin added 12 kills. Wilhelm distributed 44 assists.

Brynn Roozeboom paced Pella Christian with 18 kills.

Iowa City Regina 3, Pella Christian 1

(25-15, 14-25, 25-11, 25-16)

Class 2A Regional Final, at Grinnell

Serving: Pella Christian 63-69 (.913), Regina 86-88 (.977)

Aces: Pella Christian 5 (Chloe Huisman 2), Regina 2 (Addison Bollier, Nora Wilhelm)

Kills: Pella Christian 49 (Brynn Roozeboom 18), Regina 53 (Reese Naeve 39)

Assists: Pella Christian 48 (Huisman 45), Regina 53 (Wilhelm 44)

Blocks: Pella Christian 4 (Rachel Kacmarynski, Addison Bandstra 2), Regina 5 (Naeve 3)

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com