‘It’s tough, it’s tough:’ Grundy Center’s last-ditch comeback stuns Beckman

CORALVILLE -- For 72 points, Dyersville Beckman played brilliant, beautiful volleyball.

But, this being an untimed sport, there was no running out the clock. And that enabled Grundy Center to make an unlikely -- almost impossible -- comeback.

Down two sets and trailing 22-13 in the Game 3, the fourth-ranked Spartans stormed back and stunned No. 5 Beckman in a Class 2A quarterfinal at the state volleyball tournament Tuesday afternoon at Xtream Arena.

Set scores were 20-25, 10-25, 25-23, 25-23 and 15-13.

“We had a timeout (late in the third set), and (Coach) Lori (Willis) told us, ‘You’d better get your butts in gear,’” said Grundy Center junior Ryanne Brubaker, who is listed at 6-foot-8.

“We weren’t playing Grundy Center volleyball. If we thought (Beckman) was going to lie down for us, they really didn’t.

“We just wanted to keep playing.”

The Spartans (36-9) kept playing, kept scrapping, kept fighting and somehow finished that third set with a 12-1 run to extend the match.

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“They just started playing better,” Beckman’s Ava Burkle said. “I think it got in our heads, but we tried to bring each other up.”

Beckman (32-8) called timeout at 22-17. Burkle’s kill gave the Blazers a 23-20 lead, but Grundy Center kept coming.

Grundy Center’s Jenna Blythe had five kills in that fateful stretch.

The Blazers got out to an 8-3 lead in Game 4, but Grundy Center scored five in a row, and it was tight the rest of the way. Beckman’s final lead in Game 5 came at 6-5, then the Spartans scored three in a row and led the rest of the way.

“It’s tough. It’s tough,” Beckman Coach Todd Troutman said. “I thought it might go five, but not the way it did. (Grundy Center) started playing a lot better defensively.

“Credit to them. You can’t run out the clock. You’ve got to get that last point.”

Brubaker collected 22 kills for the Spartans, and Blythe added 17.

For Beckman, Joy Burkle led the way with 22 kills. Jaylin Burkle added 16, Ava Burkle and Isabel Kluesner 12 apiece. Paige Fangman distributed 48 assists.

The Blazers were magnificent through the first half of the match. In Game 2, they hit .483.

“We were working as a team. Everybody has each other’s backs,” Fangman said.

But, like Brubaker said, the Spartans got in gear when they absolutely, positively had to.

“It got hard when they flipped that switch,” Ava Burkle said.

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Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com