Carroll Kuemper gets past rival Red Oak at state volleyball tournament

CORALVILLE — Rusty Wintermote looked just as much relieved as he did elated.

In his fourth year heading up the Carroll Kuemper volleyball program, Wintermote has had his Knights at the state tournament each year.

The only thing missing before Tuesday was a victory.

Wintermote's team saw a first-set lead slip away to Hawkeye Ten Conference rival Red Oak before recovering to win the next three and post a 25-27, 25-17, 26-16, 25-22 victory in a state Class 3A quarterfinal match at Xtream Arena.

"I don't know what to say, it is the first time I have ever won here," Wintermote said after the match. "I don't know the words to use right now other than I am very excited for (our) four seniors who have been down here for four years to get a win."

Kuemper (33-2) moves on to a semifinal match at 2:25 on Wednesday against Davenport Assumption, which advanced with a straight-set win over Mid-Prairie.

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The win also avenged one of the Knights' two regular-season losses. Red Oak prevailed in five sets in the previous meeting.

"Knowing what they did to us in the regular season, then again in the first set, we knew how tough of a team they were going to be," said senior hitter Brianna Wittrock, one of three Knights to finish with 10 kills. "We just pushed back harder in the last three sets and showed what we could do."

Kuemper saw a 23-20 lead get away in the first set. Wintermote credited the mental makeup of his players for the turnaround in the last three sets.

"One thing (the players) have developed over the season is that they have become coaches themselves on the court," Wintermote said. "Anytime you can have your kids coach themselves on the court you don't have to do a lot on the other end.

"I get asked sometimes if I have a heartbeat on the bench. Trust me, I have a heartbeat but I just trust what they can do. It is fun to watch."

Wintermote praised the play of senior libero Kaylie Simons. He said her play was key because of Red Oak's style that features a lot of off-speed attacks. She finished with 25 digs.

"Red Oak is a very challenging team to play because of the way they play," he said. "We had to adjust our serving and we did it just enough to survive."

For the Tigers (38-3), Jocelyn O'Neal led the offense with 20 kills.