Iowa City Regina nearly flawless in win over Wilton that sends it to state volleyball

WEST LIBERTY - Considering the environment, the opponent, the stakes, this was a great performance. Almost a perfect one.

Definitely the best of the season.

'For sure. One-hundred percent,” said Jaedynn Evans, after her Iowa City Regina volleyball team swept its way to the state tournament with a three-set demolition of Wilton in a Class 2A regional final Tuesday night.

'We played great,” agreed teammate Alex Wiese. 'I don't believe it was a perfect game, but we played out of our minds. It was amazing. We just never let up.”

Not until this 25-7, 25-18, 25-19 victory was wrapped. That took roughly an hour.

So different from the regular season, when Regina rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win a five-set thriller. These teams came in ranked 11th (Regina) and 12th, but the gap on this night was considerably wider than that.

'I don't want to say yes and jinx ourselves,” said Regina Coach Jordyn Akers, when asked that question about being perfect. 'But that was probably one of the best things we could have asked for.”

Regina (28-8) won the first set easily, going on runs of six and nine points, stunning Wilton (34-6), which appeared jittery and out of sorts. As an example, the Beavers failed to play four balls they believed were out of bounds, only to have them land inside or on the out-of-bounds line.

Emily Bonnett served during the nine-point run, recording a pair of aces.

'Oh, that was so surprising,” said Evans, who combined with Wiese for an overpowering attack. 'We all came in with lots of nerves, and I just think we managed them a little better than they did. And, of course, that was such a huge win, taking the first set. Just building our confidence.”

Wilton took a 7-6 lead in the second set, but Wiese came back with an immediate kill and ace to put the Regals back on top. That one-point Beavers edge, by the way, was the one and only time they led the entire night.

Pretty amazing.

'We kept our chaos down a little more,” Evans said. 'And we utilized our middles a lot more than we did in the regular-season meeting.”

A pair of Evans kills finished off the second set for Regina, and the Regals scored the first six points of set number three. Wilton did come back for ties of 10-10 and 15-15, but Regina got the last seven points to put it away.

Ellie VanDerSchoot had two of the final three points on kills, Evans the other. This is the third trip to state for Regina, its first since 2013.

Regina draws Western Christian (37-6) in a 2A state tourney opener next Wednesday afternoon (November 8) at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

'Our defense and our coverage picked up a million times better,” said Akers, a Regina grad. 'We have spent so much time over the last month pushing our defense and our blocking and our coverage. Every day. The girls have worked really hard on it. They've done everything we've asked.”

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