Monticello jumps into driver’s seat of River Valley North volleyball race

The prevailing opinion — and certainly a valid one — was that Dyersville Beckman’s volleyball program would come in and take the River Valley Conference North Division by storm.

Not so fast.

Monticello rose up and stung the Blazers in four sets Tuesday at home, claiming sole possession of the division lead.

“That was a really great win for us,” Monticello Coach Stacie Breitbach said. “We had a game plan, and the kids stuck with it.

“(Beckman) had a right front (Jenna Lansing) that they were going to go to. We knew she was going to get her kills. We just couldn’t get down when that happened.”

Monticello (15-6 overall, 4-0 division) has a go-to hitter, too, in sophomore Jayden Kuper, who rang up 25 of the Panthers’ 55 kills Tuesday.

A 5-foot-9 middle/outside combo hitter, Kuper is fifth in the state — first and 3A — in kills per set, at 4.7.

“Jayden’s a worker bee. She’s going to find a way,” Breitbach said. “We want her to keep attacking, keep swinging.

“Our setter (senior Mia Jaeger) has really grown and runs the offense well.”

Jaeger distributed 45 assists Tuesday. Keziah McQuillen complemented Kuper with 10 kills; Madison Butterworth had nine.

The teams split the first two sets before Monticello won the last two, 25-23 and 25-19. And if Bound is correct, that wrapped up the Panthers’ first victory over Beckman since before 2008.

So, yeah, “really great win” sums it up.

Monticello is coming off a third-place finish at the Springville Invitational on Saturday. Four of the Panthers’ six losses have come at the hands of Springville, which is likely to be ranked No. 1 in Class 1A this week.

“We’re going to keep reaching,” Breitbach said. “When we play together, we can accomplish a lot.”

Mount Vernon’s long, triumphant haul

Tired of the same old routine? Maggie Willems was.

“Our Saturdays became kind of redundant. We were recycling the same teams, and I didn’t want to do that anymore,” said Willems, the coach at Mount Vernon.

So, in 2017, she reached out to one of her coaching friends in far southwestern Iowa, Angela Montgomery of Red Oak. And the Mustangs have made the 246-mile, four-hour trip since (with the exception of the 2020 COVID season).

The team departed at noon Friday, practiced upon their arrival into town, accompanied the Red Oak student section at the Tigers’ homecoming football game.

Saturday, they swept their six opponents, sending their season record to 15-1.

“We played well the entire day,” Willems said. “All phases of our game were strong. Blocking continues to score us a lot of points.”

Ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, Mount Vernon hosts a stacked four-team round-robin Saturday; the field also consists of Dike-New Hartford (23-1), Pleasant Valley (16-3) and Iowa City Liberty (15-6).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com