Ankeny keeps ‘rowing the boat’ in state volleyball win over Urbandale

CEDAR RAPIDS — Dave Whims evoked the words of University of Minnesota football Coach P.J. Fleck.

After Whims saw his Ankeny team fall behind CIML rival Urbandale 2-1 in Monday's Class 5A state volleyball quarterfinal match at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse, he had this message between sets three and four.

“Hey, I talked to them about Rowing the Boat,” he said. “I told them they just had to keep rowing, keep going and things will turn around. We knew everything (Urbandale) was going to do when they get the ball, we read it, we get in position and we dig it.”

The defending champions responded. They built sizable leads in each of the final two sets, then had to hold off late charges from the J-Hawks. It resulted in a 25-23, 23-25, 14-25, 23-25, 15-12 victory.

No. 3 Ankeny (40-5) will meet No. 2 Pleasant Valley in a 10 a.m. semifinal on Wednesday. Urbandale, which split two regular-season matches with the Hawks, retires at 33-9.

Monday's match featured two of the top hitters in the state in Ankeny's Ava Reynolds and Urbandale's Lily Dykstra. Neither disappointed the fans. Reynolds, a senior who will play next year at the University of Denver, finished with 27 kills and 14 digs.

Dykstra, a junior, pounded home 30 kills and had five ace serves.

» Photo gallery: Ankeny vs. Urbandale in state volleyball tournament

Ankeny senior libero Lexi Stephens, who had 19 digs, watched the battle between the two hitters with much respect.

“Lily Dykstra is such a great player,” Stephens said. “I'm really happy I got to play against her because she is going to make everyone who goes against her better because she has so many good shots.

“It's so much fun to see two great players go against each other. Ava is such a strong hitter and a great leader. Seeing them go after each other, getting kill after kill was just amazing to watch.”

With Dykstra leading the way, Urbandale responded from a loss in the opening set with two impressive sets to take a 2-1 lead.

Stephens said the Hawks just needed to relax after falling behind.

“We just had to remember to have fun and remember that you are out there with your best friends,” Stephens said. “We've been through so much together and we didn't want it to end.”

Whims said the plan in the decisive set was simple.

“I just cut the game into five-point games,” he said. “We had to beat them to five, beat them to 10 then beat them to 15. Fortunately, we hung on and were able to do that.”

Aowyn Schrader added 19 kills for the Ankeny offense. Hallie Ouellette had 16 digs.

For Urbandale, Meredith Hews had 24 digs.

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