Western marches to 15th straight semifinal

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's tradition, Tammi Veerbeek says.

And it boggles the mind.

Top-ranked Western Christian marched to the semifinals for the 15th consecutive year, sweeping No. 8 Council Bluffs St. Albert, 25-10, 25-20, 25-15, in a Class 2A first-round match at the state volleyball tournament Wednesday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center.

Imagine that. Fifteen straight years, the Wolfpack has been one of the last four teams standing in 2A.

'It's crazy, I know,” said Western setter Payton Harmsen. 'It's totally tradition. Since I was a little girl, I looked up to the girls before me. I wanted to do what they did. We play for them, that tradition.”

Western (41-5) will face No. 4 West Branch (36-5) in its latest semifinal journey, 4 p.m. Thursday.

Already a dynasty before Veerbeek took over the program 17 years ago, Western has only enhanced its reputation as a volleyball giant since she came aboard.

'We have a strong AAU program. We have a lot of dedicated parents that are willing to travel to put money into it so they can watch their little girls play volleyball and eventually play for Western Christian,” Veerbeek said. 'And we've had phenomenal athletes go through here.”

The latest go-to hitter is Kaira Moss, a 6-foot-2 senior middle hitter who carried the Wolfpack home at the end of the second set. She had three kills and a block in Western's five-point surge to snap a 20-all deadlock.

Moss collected 15 kills to stake Western to a 45-20 advantage in that category.

Western rallied from an 8-2 deficit in the middle set.

'We jumped on them in the first set, overmatched them a little with our size,” Veerbeek said. 'They took it to us there for a while in the second set, but we were a long ways from 25 points. We just wanted to stay composed and stay aggressive.”

Emily Van Ginkel and Ashtyn Veerbeek added eight kills apiece, and Harmsen contributed 38 assists.

If you're looking for an end in sight to Western's dominance, forget it. The JV was 33-0 this season.

Grace Wettengel and Sydney McLaren posted six kills apiece for St. Albert (23-7).

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com