Davenport Assumption seeks second state title

CORALVILLE — After a first set loss, Greg Cotton knew he had to make some adjustments.

"We made a little bit of a line-up change," he said after his Assumption team dropped the first set to No. 6 Carroll Kuemper on Wednesday. "We left Kathryn Snyder in there and she kind of solidified things."

Snyder usually plays along the front only, but in the final three sets she played all the way around and it made a difference as Assumption won them all to advance to Thursday's 2:30 p.m. final against Humboldt, which stunned perennial state power Western Christian in five sets to advance.

No. 2 Assumption's 21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-16 victory at Xtream Arena put it in position to win the school's second state title. Assumption, which has been at state 11 times since making its first trip in 2012, refocused after the loss in the first set.

"I think we started putting a lot of service pressure on them," Cotton said. "They don't have a lot of middle attack, we knew they were going to go more to the (outside) so we had prepped for that."

Sophomore Belle Cotton, the coach's daughter, credited Kuemper for its play in the opening set.

"They put up a challenge to us for sure," she said. "We talked about knowing how to play Assumption volleyball. After we did that, I think we executed pretty well.

"We've had to make some adjustments this year. They are all good volleyball players so we are comfortable with all of them out there."

Coach Cotton also was quick to credit the influence senior setter Karsyn Kelley had on getting the team refocused.

Not only did Kelley have 39 assists, she also had 11 digs.

"(She) was just taking control of the match," he said. "That was the experience of having seen some of that here last here as well."

After a slow start, senior Ellah Derrer came on to finish with 19 kills. Belle Cotton added 11. Addy Anthofer had 11 kills to lead Kuemper (32-3).

Coach Cotton said his Knights just need to continue what they have been doing all year in Thursday's final.

"The message will be to stay ourselves," he said. "We need to stay true to the work we did all summer. This is the culmination of what we expected. Maybe a little bumpy here and there but we're here and maybe we can make some noise tomorrow."

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