Hinton serves up a sweep of Grundy Center in 2A state volleyball semifinals

CORALVILLE — Tough serving is a trademark of Hinton volleyball.

Grundy Center got a heavy dose of it during Wednesday’s Class 2A state semifinal at Xtream Arena.

The Blackhawks had 14 ace serves and numerous others that threw the Spartans (38-8) out of system. That resulted in an impressive 25-16, 25-21, 25-18 victory.

No. 2 Hinton (32-1) will get a chance to play giant killer in Thursday's 4:45 p.m. title match. Top-ranked and undefeated Dike-New Hartford will be the foe. The Wolverines advanced with a sweep of Denver.

Senior Ashlyn Kovarna said the plan was to keep Grundy Center guessing.

“This is what we have been working for all season,” Kovarna said. “We went out there and went after it.

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“One of the strengths of our team is aggressive serving. It puts them out of system, gives us a free ball and we put it right back at them.”

Hinton co-head coach Robin Mohr said the staff saw some areas of the Spartans defense they might be able to exploit.

“We watched film late (Tuesday night) and we knew if we served tough, forcing them to make long sets to the outside that it would be to our advantage,” he said. “Luckily we found some gaps and some fell in.”

Mohr singled out Sayler Jauer, who came off the bench to get an ace and a couple of well-placed serves. He also spoke of the defense, especially against Grundy Center standout Carlie Willis.

Willis did finish with 20 kills, but she never really was able to string a run together to spark her team.

“Willis is a strong hitter,” Mohr said. “She was putting some down early, but our defense finally got some blocks going and then our offense, when it is going good, is hard to stop.”

Bailey Boeve led the Blackhawks with 13 kills and she had three ace serves. Kovarna had 29 assists and three ace serves. Gabbie Friessen had four ace serves.