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Iowa high school state volleyball 2024: Monday’s scores, stats and more
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The Gazette’s roundup of the first day of the 2024 Iowa high school state volleyball tournament Monday at Xtream Arena in Coralville with quarterfinal matches in Class 5A and Class 4A.
Monday’s Iowa high school state volleyball scores
CLASS 5A QUARTERFINALS
No. 1 Pleasant Valley 3, No. 9 Waukee 0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-15)
Top-ranked Pleasant Valley faced an early fork in the road.
Down 21-16 in the first set, the Spartans stormed back to win it, then swept No. 9 Waukee.
“Once we got used to the lights and the crowd and everything, we were good,” senior Stella Smith said.
And in the third set, very good.
The Spartans (33-2) posted a .579 kill efficiency in the finale and won going away.
— Jeff Linder
» Full story: No. 1 Pleasant Valley recovers from slow start, sweeps Waukee
» Photo gallery | Box score | Watch replay
No. 2 Ankeny Centennial 3, No. 7 Cedar Falls 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23)
The first set could not have started much better and the second set could not have started worse for Ankeny Centennial.
The No. 2 Jaguars bolted out to an 11-1 lead in the first set and fell behind 9-1 in the second.
The difference?
Centennial (32-4) was able to hold the lead in the first and overcome the deficit in the second en route to a sweep over the Tigers (32-7).
“We just know it has to be point-by-point,” said senior hitter Jaeden Pratt. “We know that every point is not going to be our best but what we strive to do is always try our best and in the end get it done.”
Pratt and fellow senior Delaney Miller proved to be too much in the end for the Tigers. Miller, who will play collegiately at Wayne State, had 24 kills. Pratt, an Illinois State basketball commit, had 10 kills and 17 digs.
— Mike Condon
» Full story: Ankeny Centennial handles Cedar Falls
» Photo gallery | Box score | Watch replay
No. 4 West Des Moines Dowling 3, No. 5 Indianola 1(25-17, 17-25, 25-17, 25-23)
After feeding her teammates all match, setter Ella Rogers called her own number for the final point.
“I’m super excited,” Rogers said. “This was a great team win. We were going to fight back after losing that (second) set.”
The fourth set was a dandy, with neither team leading by more than three points.
Rogers connected with Kaylie Klein to get the Maroons to match point, then converted a dump set over the net to wrap it up.
Ellie Muller led the Maroons with 14 kills. Klein added 12, Ava Groeteke 11. Rogers added five kills (including the winner) to go with her 34 assists.
Indianola’s Aspen Nelsen did more than a little of everything, posting 15 kills, 24 assists and 18 digs, leading the Indians in all three categories.
— Jeff Linder
» Full story: Dowling has more weapons, drops Indianola
» Photo gallery | Box score | Watch replay
No. 6 Waukee Northwest 3, No. 3 Ankeny 0 (25-14, 25-20, 29-27)
Waukee Northwest sophomore Logan Vogt said her team had never wanted to win a match so badly this entire season.
After falling three times to No. 3 Ankeny in the regular season, the No. 6 Wolves found themselves paired with the Hawks in a Class 5A state quarterfinal match on Monday afternoon at Xtream Arena.
“We just really, really wanted to beat them,” Vogt said. “We don't stop fighting and we keep pushing until the very end.”
Not only did the Wolves (27-9) push until the end, they finally pushed through, upsetting the Hawks to earn a spot in Wednesday morning’s semifinals.
Logan Vogt led the winners with 15 kills and three blocks. Ladwig had nine kills. Reagan Hanfelt and Kamryn Scheib had nine kills apiece for Ankeny, which retires at 36-5.
— Mike Condon
» Full story: Waukee Northwest topples No. 3 Ankeny
» Photo gallery | Box score | Watch replay
CLASS 4A QUARTERFINALS
No. 12 Sergeant Bluff-Luton 3, No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier 2 (25-18, 25-18, 21-25, 18-25, 15-13)
That one will sting for a while.
“Really hard,” Cedar Rapids Xavier Coach Amy Weiland said. “It’s going to sit in my mind a long time.”
No. 12 Sergeant Bluff-Luton brought a big block from Northwest Iowa and stunned the top-ranked Saints.
Izzy Schaap led SBL with 16 kills.
Xavier owned a 56-44 advantage in kills, but that was neutralized by 39 attack errors, compared to 25 for the Warriors.
— Jeff Linder
» Full story: Sergeant Bluff-Luton shocks No. 1 Xavier in a marathon
No. 2 Sioux City Heelan 3, No. 9 Carlisle 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-18)
When you have won 42 of your 45 matches in a volleyball season, there has to be a certain level of trust.
Sioux City Heelan Coach Lauren Boatman has developed that with her team and it showed in Monday’s Class 4A quarterfinal match with Carlisle.
“We've played a lot of volleyball this season,” Boatman said. “For the girls to have played that much volleyball all season long, they know what they are doing. We, as a coaching staff, trust them to take care of the ball and do their job.”
The second-ranked Crusaders (42-3) faced challenges in each set, having to fend off runs from Carlisle. They met each one and never wavered.
— Mike Condon
» Full story: Heelan fends off every Carlisle challenge in state quarterfinal sweep
» Photo gallery | Box score | Watch replay
No. 5 Pella 3, No. 4 Clear Creek Amana 2 (19-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-18, 15-9)
Pella setters Katie Scheckel and Emma Eekhoff, they did it all.
How about a double triple-double?
“I knew we could come back,” Scheckel said. “We wanted to go to practice (Tuesday), and we wanted to come back here and play Wednesday.”
Digest these numerals for a moment: Scheckel amassed 23 kills, 25 assists and 25 digs.
As for Eekhoff ... 11 kills, 16 assists, 29 digs.
Clear Creek Amana (37-8) was in a decent position to close this one out in four sets. The Clippers led Game 4, 7-3, then the Dutch turned the match upside down with an eight-point run.
— Jeff Linder
» Full story: Versatile duo leads Pella back from behind against CCA
» Photo gallery | Box score | Watch replay
No. 3 North Scott 3, No. 7 Glenwood 0 (25-11, 25-13, 25-16)
Abby Hayes, a Creighton commit, had a big night, pounding home 11 kills in 32 attempts for a .438 hitting percentage.
“I feel like we played super clean ball from the get-go,” said Hayes, one of four returners from last year’s title team. “In the second set, we started off a little bit slower, but came back and it was good to see that we could handle a little adversity.”
McKenzie Moeller added 14 kills for the Lancers.
Charley Hernandez led the way for the Rams (25-16) with 10 kills.
— Mike Condon
» Full story: North Scott looks capable of a state championship repeat
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