Harlan tops error-prone Solon

CEDAR RAPIDS -- As far as state championships go, southwest Iowa had been a volleyball vacuum.

The Harlan Cyclones ended that region's drought Friday afternoon.

Jess Schaben slammed 31 kills, and top-ranked Harlan outplayed No. 2 Solon, 25-16, 25-17, 18-25, 25-20, for the Class 4A crown at the U.S. Cellular Center.

"Oh, gosh, she's amazing," Solon libero Rylee Smith said of Schaben, a 6-foot-2 junior middle blocker bound for Iowa State. "She's so diverse. She hits it hard, then she starts tipping. She had to adjust to her a lot."

Draw a couple lines on Highway 30 west of Ames, and Interstate 35 south of Des Moines. Nobody in the quadrant southwest of that border had won a state volleyball championship in the 43 years the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has sponsored the sport.

But Harlan (37-4) broke the ice behind Schaben, plus some sloppy moments by Solon, which earned runner-up honors for the second straight year and finished 33-9.

"We never gave ourselves a chance to make a run on our serve," said Solon Coach Peter Gustin. "We just made too many errors. We couldn't keep the ball on the court."

The decisive stretch of the match came in the second half of the second game. Solon held a 15-9 lead, but Harlan raced back with a 16-2 run, including a spree of 10 straight points.

"When we got behind, we just had to stay focused and do what we came here to do," Schaben said.

Schaben was the all-tournament captain. She was joined by teammates Asia Kloewer and Taylor Frederick and Solon's Jordan Smith and Rylee Smith, as well as Hali Hillegas of Charles City and Danielle Cabel of Davenport Assumption.

Angie Spangenberg had been a successful coach at Red Oak, taking the Tigers to state nine times. After three years away from the game (she was Red Oak athletics director during that time), she took a post as dean of students and volleyball coach at Harlan.

Each of her three years there, she has led the Cyclones to state. And this year, they reached the summit.

"It's special to be part of it," she said. "You want to make a difference in kids' lives. In the end, they make a difference in yours."

Solon's best stretch came behind Vik Meade in the third set. She had a pair of blocks and a kill in a six-point run that put the Spartans ahead 12-6. Then, late in the game, she had two more blocks and a kill as the Spartans closed it out.

"It was intense," Meade said of her encounter with Schaben. "It takes a while to get used to her; she's a 6-2 girl with long arms."Jordan Runge collected 16 kills to lead the Spartans. Jordan Smith added 12, Meade 10. Taylor Nearad distributed 40 assists; Rylee Smith contributed 23 digs.

Both teams spanked 49 kills. But Solon suffered 25 attack errors, compared to 18 for Harlan.

Solon committed three straight errors -- one on a serve, two on attacks -- after forging a 19-19 tie in Game 4. It was all too much to overcome.

"I thought we were going to come back and win the match," Gustin said. "Unfortunately, we just didn't get it going."