West Delaware finishes with a flourish (VIDEO)

3A Quarterfinal

1

2

3

4 

5 

Pella (38-6)

20

25

16 

25

8

**Sioux City Heelan (46-9)

25 

23

25 

23

15

3A Quarterfinal

1

2

3

 

 

Red Oak (22-12)

14

8

5 

 

 

**Mount Vernon (38-0)

25

25

25 

 

 

3A Quarterfinal

1

2

3

 

 

Union (30-7)

11

22 

29

 

 

**Waverly-Shell Rock (49-1)

25 

25

31

 

 

3A Quarterfinal

1

2

3

 

 

Williamsburg (25-10)

14 

17

20

 

 

**West Delaware (40-3) 

25 

25

25

 

 

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Down three points late in Game 3, the West Delaware Hawks barely blinked."The scoreboard said we were behind, but I still felt we were in control," said Hawks Coach Brett Mather.The scoreboard soon caught on.Third-ranked West Delaware concluded the match with a 9-1 run and swept No. 11 Williamsburg, 25-14, 25-17, 25-20, in a Class 3A quarterfinal at the state volleyball tournament Wednesday night at the U.S. Cellular Center."We had some ups and downs, but we battled through them," said West Delaware all-stater Allison Pasker. "We dug deep and played our game."The reward is a semifinal showdown with No. 2 Waverly-Shell Rock (49-1). The defending champions swept Union."What a phenomenal squad they are," Mather said. "It's certainly a big test, but it's something we are up for the challenge for."Williamsburg (25-10) led the finale, 19-16, before the Hawks went to work.Pasker had a kill and an ace in a four-point run that put West Delaware in front, 20-19. After Mackenzie Bigbee's block tied it, the Hawks scored the final five points to put the Raiders away.Rayne Cook collected a block and a kill on consecutive points that made it 24-20.Down 14-11, Williamsburg scored eight of the next 10 points to take the lead. But the Hawks answered emphatically."They had a quick offense, and they were able to go on some runs," Bigbee said. "It seemed there were some times that we'd get stuck. We'd hit a point, get stuck and we couldn't get out of it."It happened in the first game, when the Hawks scored eight straight points to take a 17-7 lead.And it happened in the second game, when the Hawks scored six in a row to trigger an 11-3 run that made it 20-12."They kept us on our toes," Mather said. "But the girls did a nice job to maintain composure. They kept battling."Defensively, I wasn't very happy. We didn't dig up as much as I'd like. But some of that had to do with their offspeed stuff."Offensively, the Hawks were just fine. They out-killed the Raiders by a 45-24 margin and posted a salty .302 kill efficiency.Pasker collected 17 kills. Cook and Jessica McDonald added eight apiece, and Jenna Hermsen registered 41 assists.Bigbee counted 10 kills for Williamsburg.