Mediapolis eliminates North Cedar for spot in 2A volleyball state tournament

IOWA CITY - Even after thorough film study, nothing could prepare North Cedar volleyball coach Traci Smith for what was coming from Mediapolis.

'They were getting to everything,” Smith said after eighth-ranked North Cedar fell, 25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 25-16, to No. 12 Mediapolis in a Class 2A volleyball regional final last night at Iowa City West High School. 'They played better than any film I've ever seen on them. And they were hitting our holes and our blocks when we didn't hardly have a hole. They played an amazing game tonight. They really did. I didn't expect them to come out and play as hard as they did.”

This will be the seventh trip to state for Mediapolis (33-7) and its first since it was a 3A school in 2012.

Mediapolis will play a 2A quarterfinal against second-ranked Unity Christian (34-4) at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at the U.S. Cellular Center.

'When we were in eighth grade, we watched our varsity girls go to the state tournament,” Mediapolis senior libero Brianna Eberhardt said. 'I remember looking over at (Mediapolis senior) Kara Brown and said, ‘We're going to do this someday.' It took us five years, but we did it.”

Eberhardt led the Bullettes with 20 digs and four aces. Brown tallied a game-high 12 kills, while sophomore Kaitlyn Thie and freshman Helaina Hillyard each added nine.

'We played every ball like it was the last point of every championship,” Brown said. 'Everything we worked for has finally paid off. It's just a great feeling and I'm so happy.”

North Cedar charged out to a 7-2 lead in Game 1, fought through a 14-3 Bullettes' burst for a brief 20-19 lead before surrendering the final six points. After the Knights claimed Game 2, momentum was up for grabs with the third game deadlocked at 22-22. Mediapolis closed with three of four points for a 2-1 match advantage.

With a 10-9 lead in Game 4, Mediapolis collected some breathing room with a 6-1 burst. North Cedar's final gasp got the Knights within 18-16, but the Bullettes clinched the match with the final seven points.

'We just wanted to come out and play our game, run our offense,” Mediapolis Coach Erin Steffener said. 'We're lucky enough we have a lot of offense. We have a lot of kids that can hit the ball, put the ball away and we used all of them tonight.”

Junior Darby Hawtrey collected a team-high 10 kills for North Cedar (34-6), which ends its season in the regional final for the second year in a row.

Emily Hay distributed a game-high 33 assists, while Taylor Kress added 30 digs for the Knights.

'They played hard and they had a great year,” Smith said. 'It's unfortunate it's ending this soon. None of us were prepared for it. We thought we had everything ready to go for tonight.”

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com