Defending champion Centennial edges Johnston in quarterfinals

CEDAR RAPIDS – Ankeny Centennial continues to make noise in what was supposed to be a year to reconstruct its roster.

The defending Class 5A state champions overcame a match-tying fourth game and won a five-set thriller over fifth-ranked Johnston, 27-25, 22-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12 in a Class 5A volleyball state quarterfinal Tuesday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

'We got gritty,” Ankeny Centennial Coach Jessica Rinehart said. 'We knew it was going to be tight. We knew it was going to come down to the last few points. We've played a lot of games and we talked about how mentally tough we needed to be.”

Seventh-ranked Centennial (37-5) advanced to a Class 5A state semifinal Thursday at 10 a.m. against Dubuque Hempstead (26-11), which upset top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling in the other quarterfinal. Despite significant graduation hits from the state title team, Centennial proved it has more than enough to keep winning.

'Our Jaguar volleyball program is very strong,” senior Savana Johnson said. 'We start from a young age. Every generation, we're coming ready.”

After the teams split the first two games. Johnston seemingly had control of Game 3, up 19-15. Centennial rallied, scoring 10 of the last 13 points for a 25-22 win. Kills by Tasha Vipond and Johnson sealed it.

'We definitely knew that we were just as good,” junior libero Kylee Macke said. 'We've just been practicing every day like we want to win.”

Johnson led the Jaguars with 14 kills, while Macke added 28 digs. Johnston seemingly had momentum on its side with a 9-6 burst to break a 16-16 tie and win Game 4, but the Centennial front wall of Johnson and Vipond continually turned the Dragons away in Game 5. A Johnson kill capped an 8-5 closeout surge and won it for the Jaguars.

'We came out, we knew we needed to block and we needed to service as aggressive as we can,” Johnson said. 'We came out really united and we did that.”

Junior Taryn Knuth led Johnston with 27 kills, while setter Anna Miller notched 32 assists.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com