Notebook: Kennedy's cast of 18 nears the finish

CEDAR RAPIDS - Classes come. Classes go.But for Michelle Goodall, no class has come along quite like this one. Not in talent, and certainly not in volume.Eighteen senior players have stuck with the volleyball program at Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Nine of them did not dress for the state tournament.“I think that's amazing,” said Laura Boenish, who has started since her freshman year. “The girls that haven't played varsity but have kept playing - I admire them. It shows they really enjoy what they do.”Boenish and her classmates extended their careers at the state tournament Wednesday, rallying from a two-set deficit to outlast Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln in five games.No. 3 Kennedy (35-4) meets No. 2 Iowa City West in a Class 4A semifinal Friday.“I'm glad they won, because I'm not ready to say good-bye to them,” Goodall said. “I get very emotional about them.“It's a special class. You're together so much for so long, you really get to know them. We may never see a class like this (at Kennedy) again.”

Playing in painKiah Stokes was in anguish, physically and emotionally, after Linn-Mar's four-game loss to Iowa City West.Stokes suffered a minor back injury Sunday while on a basketball visit to the University of Georgia.“I was sore. I was just going to play through it,” said Stokes, who received medical treatment numerous times when she was out of the game. “I tried to stretch it and stay loose.Stokes collected 31 kills, but made 11 attacking errors, in her 69 swings Wednesday. She said she'll take a week off before joining the Linn-Mar basketball team.

Playing in pain, Part IIDubuque Hempstead's Molly Dolson severely sprained her right ankle in a match Oct. 20.The sprain was so severe that her ankle was placed in a cast and she did not play during the regional tournament series.“I just got my cast off a week ago and now I'm in a boot,” said Dolson, who played in Hempstead's three-game sweep of West Des Moines Valley.“It's not 100 percent, but it was definitely a lot better than I expected it to be. The only thing that was a little different was probably the jump serving, because I'd land only on my left foot. But, other than that, I took a lot of meds, so that got me going, I guess.”