Lewis Central knocks off Waverly-Shell Rock in state volleyball quarterfinals

CEDAR RAPIDS - Seeds are just a number.

After their state tournament opener, a couple of Council Bluffs Lewis Central players gave the impression they believed they were much better than the sixth seed in the Class 4A field.

They made their case by discarding the third seed.

Lewis Central upset Waverly-Shell Rock, 25-21, 25-20, 25-16, in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union state volleyball quarterfinals Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Center. The Titans return to the semifinals after a one-year hiatus.

'Nobody had the expectation of us to win besides us, I thought,” Lewis Central senior outside hitter Katherine Poore said. 'I thought it was pretty awesome.”

For Poore and Meagan Holt, this is their fourth trip to the state tournament. The rest of the roster is greener. They are the only seniors and there is a lone junior. The rest are underclassmen.

'We knew this was our last year,” Holt said. 'We wanted to finish strong, so we were just telling the other girls and now they've been here so all the nerves are gone. If we played good, we'd be fine.”

The Titans (33-5) started strong, taking an 11-5 lead. Poore had one of her team-high 12 kills during that opening stretch. The Go-Hawks pulled within 15-13, but Lewis Central answered four straight points and winning five of the next six.

The second set had a similar sequence when the Go-Hawks eclipsed a four-point deficit, tying it 14-14, only for the Titans to win six of the next nine and close with five of the last six points.

Every time Waverly-Shell Rock made a push, the Titans turned them away.

'We feel we can trade with teams at times,” Lewis Central Coach Mike Bond said. 'We'll be patient and get the rotation or matchup against our opponent that we want.

'We got matchups. I felt when we got the matchups we wanted we took advantage.”

Poore added 11 assists, three aces and assisted on three blocks. Natalie Driver led Lewis Central with 12 assists and the Titans' Rachel Cushing had a team-high 11 digs.

Jayme Willemssen had a game-high 14 kills. Claire Marsh added 24 assists and 14 digs to lead Waverly-Shell Rock, which finished at 42-6.

'Most of the time we were playing not to lose rather than to win,” Waverly-Shell Rock Coach EaVon Woodin said. 'We weren't aggressive. We just need to play our game. Play with some confidence and it didn't seem like we couldn't get any breaks. We didn't have it.”

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