North Tama trips Lisbon, returns to state volleyball

VAN HORNE — Jadyn Rausch is a non-traditional setter.

North Tama is a unique team. And on Wednesday, the more aggressive team.

The winning team.

The 12th-ranked Redhawks swung away and knocked off No. 4 Lisbon in a four-set Class 1A volleyball regional final Wednesday night at Benton Community High School.

Scores were 17-25, 27-25, 25-21 and 25-23.

“I knew their schedule, and they hadn’t seen anybody like us,” North Tama Coach Channing Halstead said. “When we’re on, we’re pretty good.”

They were more than pretty good Wednesday. The reward is a third state-tournament berth in the last five years.

North Tama (30-10) will play an opponent to be determined at 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

The pairings are contingent on a match interrupted by a power outage in Sioux City.

If second-ranked Le Mars Gehlen wins (the Jays led 2-0 before the lights went out), North Tama will be the No. 7 seed and play Gehlen in the first round. If Akron-Westfield rallies, the Redhawks bump up to the 6 seed and face Fort Madison Holy Trinity.

“After that first set, we got our nerves out. We were playing to win,” said Shae Ewoldt, who paced the Redhawks with 19 kills.

“I think we got in their heads a little bit. We had all the momentum once we started swinging.”

Speaking of swinging ...

The match swung late in the second set. Lisbon (36-7) had three shots at a two-set-to-none lead. Ava Czarnecki’s kill put the Lions up 24-22, but the Redhawks didn’t fold.

A kill by Ewoldt and a block by Aubree Monat evened the set at 24-24. Czarnecki struck again from the right side for a 25-24 advantage, then the Redhawks scored the next three (on kills by Ewoldt and Rausch, along with a Lisbon attack error).

Instead of facing a two-set deficit, North Tama squared the match, took the momentum and ran with it.

Rausch finished with 38 assists. She’s also more than willing to become offensive herself; she racked up seven kills.

“That opens up a lot of the other hitters,” Rausch said.

The lost opportunity stuck with the Lions. North Tama jumped in front 13-4 in Game 3.

“There was about 10 minutes that we didn’t play well,” Lisbon Coach Lance Kamaus said. “That defined a lot.”

Lisbon led 17-16 in Game 4 before the Redhawks went on an eight-point surge to reach match point.

The Lions got within 24-23 on four more Czarnecki kills, then North Tama freshman Briar Blake closed it out with a kill, and Lisbon fell to 0-4 all-time in regional finals.

Lainey Willenbring added 14 kills for North Tama.

Czarnecki paced the Lions with 23 kills, Peyton Robinson added 18, and Kali Nelson posted 42 assists.

NORTH TAMA 3, LISBON 1 (17-25, 27-25, 25-21, 25-23)

Class 1A Regional Final, at Van Horne

Serving: North Tama 83-93 (.892), Lisbon 87-93 (.935)

Aces: North Tama 9 (Jadyn Rausch 3), Lisbon 4 (Peyton Robinson 2)

Kills: North Tama 47 (Shae Ewoldt 19), Lisbon 53 (Ava Czarnecki 23)

Assists: North Tama 45 (Jadyn Rausch 38), Lisbon 50 (Kali Nelson 42)

Blocks: North Tama 7 (Briar Blake 4), Lisbon 8 (Ella Clark 4)

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com