Fearless Ankeny Christian sidelines Springville in a 1A state volleyball semifinal shocker

CORALVILLE — Did you expect a bunch of timid youngsters from Ankeny Christian?

Forget that noise. Instead, you’re getting ferocious and fearless.

Sophomore setter Katie Quick posted a triple-double (12 kills, 28 assists, 14 digs), and seventh-ranked Ankeny Christian pulled a stunning sweep of No. 1 Springville, 25-10, 25-19, 25-22, in a Class 1A semifinal at the state volleyball tournament Wednesday evening at Xtream Arena.

“We came into this match totally confident,” Quick said. “Even more confident than before (Tuesday’s quarterfinal).”

A state qualifier for the first time in school history, Ankeny Christian (38-3) plays for the 1A championship at 7 p.m. Thursday against No. 4 Gladbrook-Reinbeck (34-9), and frankly, anything seems possible for the young Eagles.

In fact, with five sophomores in the starting lineup, we might be witnessing the beginning of the next small-school superpower.

“I hope so,” Ankeny Christian Coach Michele Quick said. “We started coaching these girls at a young age. We knew this was a possibility.

“We still have work to do (Thursday). Right now, I just want to get these girls to bed.”

Springville (38-4) was riding high after a near-flawless performance in a quarterfinal sweep of Oakland Riverside on Tuesday. But the Orioles couldn’t approach that level again, and much of the credit goes to Ankeny Christian.

“On film, I felt we had some good opportunities to score,” Springville Coach Claude Howard said. “But they got us on our heels, and we were backing up all the time.”

Howard paused an interview to seek out a couple of Ankeny Christian players walking by in the media room.

“Hey,” he said. “Go win it.”

Springville got out to a 5-1 lead in the first set, but Ankeny Christian flipped the match on its ear with a 21-3 blitz. Before you knew it, the Eagles were up a set and the Orioles were reeling.

“We knew we were coming up against a good team,” Springville’s Kennady Breitfelder said. “They followed their game plan better than we did. We really wanted this, but we came up short. It happens.”

Nia Howard said, “They picked up our weaknesses and took advantage. We got it going too late.”

Ankeny Christian broke a second-set 7-7 tie with four straight points and led the rest of the way. In the finale, Springville scored four in a row to tie it, 22-22, but a block by Kassidy Quick, a Springville attack error and a Macey Nehring kill sent the Eagles to the finals.

“Honestly, I can’t believe it right now,” Ankeny Christian’s Anna Weathers said. “We knew all season that we could do it, but now that it’s happening, it’s so exciting.”

Weathers and Carley Craighead collected 11 kills apiece.

Breitfelder paced Springville with nine kills. Nia Howard, who concluded her career with more than 3,000 assists, had 19 Wednesday.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com