Ankeny Centennial makes the decisive blocks late, tops Dowling in 5-set state volleyball quarterfinal

CORALVILLE — In a match that featured 31 blocks, Jaeden Pratt had the biggest two.

The final two.

Pratt snuffed out West Des Moines Dowling’s final two attacks, and sixth-ranked Ankeny Centennial outlasted the Maroons in a five-set Class 5A quarterfinal thriller at the state volleyball tournament Monday afternoon at Xtream Arena.

Set scores were 25-22, 23-25, 19-25, 29-27 and 15-11.

“Both teams are tall teams and put up tremendous blocks,” said Pratt, a sophomore. “We had more at the end.”

She had more at the end.

Centennial (30-9) captured the rubber match between the teams — they were 1-1 in the regular season — and advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal match opposite No. 1 Iowa City Liberty (31-8).

Liberty topped No. 11 Urbandale in four sets.

Knotted at 11-11 in the fifth set, Centennial scored the final four points.

Pratt started it with an off-speed kill. Setter Reagan Angus followed with her only kill of the match, a dump that caught the Maroons off guard.

“I saw it was open,” Angus said. “Words can’t describe this right now. We are fighters. We don’t give up.”

The Jaguars faced a two-set-to-one deficit and trailed 15-12 in Game 4 before rallying. Down 23-22 in the fourth, Angus provided a block and an ace to put Centennial in front.

The Jaguars had five set points, converting the fifth on Delaney Miller’s ace.

Miller led Centennial with 13 kills. Pratt added 12, Anna Sash 10. Angus delivered 28 assists.

Centennial finished with 17 blocks, six by Pratt. Dowling (31-10) countered with 14 blocks of its own.

Megan Frischmeyer paced Dowling with 19 kills. Mackenzie Dean added 16.

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