North Cedar’s heartbreaking volleyball season

CLARENCE - The North Cedar volleyball team may not have won its regional final, but the Knights gave their all in every game in the 2016 season.

That special season came to a devastating end in a regional final match against Mediapolis last week.

In the first match, the Knights started out slow losing, 25-20, but came back in the second game winning, 25-21. Mediapolis took the last two matches, 25-23 and 25-16.

In the final set, the Knights let down their guard, allowing Mediapolis to grasp the set handily.

The Knights had 44 kills in all. Darby Hawtrey led with 10. The Knights also had 99 digs with Taylor Kress leading with 30. There were 14 blocks, led by Darian Gray with 5.

'There wasn't really anything more they could have done to prepare better,” Coach Traci Smith said. 'The girls couldn't adjust on the fly and that was needed. The film we had didn't show how well the Mediapolis girls were capable of playing.”

The Knights were extremely upset on how the season ended, but still realized how well the season actually did go.

North Cedar finished 34-6, the second best record in school history to the 1997 team that went 33-3.

The most exciting parts of the season 'was definitely winning the Mount Vernon tournament, beating the Mustangs twice in one day and also winning the River Valley Conference tournament,” Smith said.

The Knights beat Monticello, Tipton and Wilton to grasp the conference title. They were also won the North Division regular-season title and won their own North Cedar Invitational, Springville and Dewitt tournaments. The Knights were very successful this season with only six losses to very good teams with only a few point differences in most matches.

The Knights already are looking ahead to next season. They will come back with the same fire they had this season and try to make it to state.