Dike-New Hartford takes fourth straight 2A title

CEDAR RAPIDS - Dike-New Hartford and Western Christian may only play once a year, but if (when) they do, it's with everything on the line.

For the fourth straight season, the No. 1 Wolverines met the No. 3 Wolfpack in the Class 2A state championship match. And for the fourth straight season, DNH came out on top, this time 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 17-25, 25-23).

The rivalry that's developed at the state tournament has come to mean as much or more than any other based solely on the stakes.

'I don't even know how many times we've played them in the finals now (total) and everything, but the level of volleyball you get to see is just amazing,” said Wolverines Coach Diane Harms. 'It's a great rivalry that's developed.

'Just to watch (the girls) mature and grow. … They've been a truly remarkable group to work with.”

In the last two title matchups, DNH dropped the first set and was forced to make a comeback for the title. This time around, however, they took the first two before finishing it off in the fourth.

The middle two sets, though, forced the Wolverines to prove their mettle. In the second set, Western Christian went on an 11-0 run, going from down 16-7 to up 18-16 - still, DNH took the set 25-23. In the third, the Wolfpack went on a 9-0 run, this time taking the set, 25-17.

It's not often a team has two runs like that in separate sets and doesn't come out on top overall, but Harms said her girls' mental fortitude showed through because of how many times they'd been through those tough spots.

'Typically, that's not what we've done,” Harms said. 'We did start strong, so it was a little different.

'They've played a lot of volleyball, and they're very confident in themselves. They know what we need to do. They didn't seem to panic out there. Yes, they got a little rattled, but we didn't fully panic and stayed together as a team. I think that's a big testament as a team that they stayed together, knowing if they stayed together they'd be able to regroup.”

The Wolverines were led by setter Rachel Koop (All-Tournament team captain) and Briana Weber (also named to All-Tournament team). Koop had 30 assists, nine kills and went 10 of 10 at the service line. Weber tied Western's Karsyn Winterfeld and Ema Altena with a match-high 17 kills. Weber also tied for a team high with Sydney Peterson with 14 digs.

Koop finished the tournament second in assists at 104, while Weber was tops in Class 2A in kills with 43.

They played well while the usual team leader, Brooke Morgan, was still dealing with lingering effects from a stress fracture that caused her to miss most of the season. Morgan was in and out of the lineup in the title match, and still registered seven kills. Harms said she was a little sore after playing three matches in three days after being out for so long.

For the others, the pressure on them to perform was raised, but not high enough they couldn't match it.

'We had a lot of pressure on us, but I think we responded well,” Koop said. 'We knew what to do to exploit their weaknesses.

'Sometimes we got down, but us senior leaders knew that couldn't happen and we had to shake off our mistakes and go to the next point. That really helped us in some of those runs to come back.”

For the senior group of Koop, Weber, Morgan, Lizzy Blough and Abby Klug, the title caps a perfect run in their four years at the state tournament.

Looking back, Koop said there were a few moments that stood out, but that the years as a whole were something the group would obviously never forget.

'We knew it was our last one, so we knew we couldn't leave anything on the court,” Koop said. 'You have your good days and bad days, but in the end we worked together. We can count on each other for everything. It's really helped we're so used to playing with each other.”

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