Davenport Assumption back in 3A state volleyball semifinals with sweep of Des Moines Christian

CORALVILLE — The defending Class 3A state champions took things right down the middle to open their title defense.

No. 4 Davenport Assumption went to its middle hitters consistently and No. 5 Des Moines Christian never really had an answer. And the Knights were never really threatened as they rolled to a 25-21, 25-15, 25-21 win in a quarterfinal matchup at Xtream Arena.

Assumption (28-7), at state for a sixth straight year, advances to a semifinal matchup on Wednesday at 2 p.m. against top-ranked Mount Vernon.

Des Moines Christian closes at 37-8.

“We came in with a gameplan,” said Assumption Coach Brian Schubert. “We started with good execution. They made adjustments, we made adjustments and we were able to find the floor really quick.”

The ones finding the floor the most were the Knights’ talented hitters. Senior Maggie Johnson had 15 kills and Ellah Derrer had 11.

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State volleyball photos: Davenport Assumption vs. Des Moines Christian

“Our middles are definitely high level,” Schubert said, “but it starts with our back-row people.”

Attacking out of the middle was a priority for the Knights.

“Our goal was to set to the middle,” said Derrer, a 6-foot-4 sophomore. “We were able to do that because of great setting and great passing that let us put them away, which is the easy part of all of it.”

Derrer credited setter Ellie Schubert's deception for the offensive success.

“Ellie is such a great setter,” Derrer said. “I think they were having trouble trying to figure out where she was going to set the ball. They had trouble trying to figure out her tendencies.”

Ellie Schubert finished with 31 assists.

It wasn't all offense for the Knights. Coach Schubert said blocking was the best part of the Knights' game on Tuesday.

“Our blocking was really, really good today,” he said. “I thought we were on point and really did what we wanted to do defensively.”

Gabby Lombardi led Des Moines Christian with 12 kills.