Denver denies West Branch in a 2A volleyball regional final

LA PORTE CITY — There was no secret service strategy.

“Honestly, I just wanted to get it in,” Denver’s Grace Mullihan said.

Get it in, get it down. It happened frequently.

Fourth-ranked Denver served 17 aces and shrugged off a sluggish start, defeating West Branch in a four-set Class 2A volleyball regional final Wednesday night at Union Community High School.

Scores were 23-25, 25-9, 25-16 and 25-18.

“It feels surreal,” Mullihan said. “The regional finals ... it took a while to get used to the feel and settle in.”

Denver (34-10) will face No. 5 Sumner-Fredericksburg (28-13) in a first-round match at the state tournament at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

The Cyclones and the Cougars are two of five North Iowa Cedar League teams in the 2A state field.

West Branch retired at 18-17. The Bears won a pair of five-set thrillers to get to this point, against Iowa City Regina and Lisbon.

But the Cyclones, simply, were better.

“We did everything we could, every single point,” said West Branch’s Alyse Klinkkammer, one of eight seniors on the Bears’ roster.

“We knew their middles would be big and strong. To get a set off the No. 4 team in the state, that’s a good way to go out.”

West Branch stormed to leads of 12-3 and 15-4 before the Cyclones settled in. They got even at 18-all, then four more times — the last at 23-23 — before a kills by Kylie Pickett and Alyssa Vargason gave the set to the Bears.

From that point on, though, it was almost all Denver. The Cyclones out-killed the Bears 38-18 in the final three sets.

Game 3 was tied 10-10 before Denver scored seven in a row. And the Cyclones pulled away from a 12-10 lead in the final with a run of five.

“They’ve got strong hitters,” Bears Co-Coach Rebeckah Hosier said. “And their servers ... they have a good deep serve and good floaters.”

Mullihan had five of the Cyclones’ 17 aces, including three in a row in Game 3.

Elaina Hildebrandt paced the winners with 13 kills. Channing Johnson dished out 42 assists.

Pickett posted seven kills and 11 assists for the Bears. Emily Coleman also had seven kills.

Denver 3, West Branch 1

(23-25, 25-9, 25-16, 25-18)

Class 2A Regional Final, at Denver

Serving: West Branch 65-67 (.970), Denver 88-96 (.917)

Aces: West Branch 4 (Claire Jarrett 2), Denver 17 (Grace Mullihan 5)

Kills: West Branch 31 (Kylie Pickett, Emily Coleman 7), Denver 51 (Elaina Hildebrandt 13)

Assists: West Branch 27 (Pickett 11), Denver 48 (Channing Johnson 42)

Blocks: West Branch 3 (Coleman 2), Denver 2 (Johnson, Jessica Gergen)

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com