One small bump, otherwise smooth sailing for City High

CEDAR RAPIDS - Letdowns, no matter how small, aren't allowed the rest of the way.

"You've got to stay focused the whole time," said Iowa City High volleyball coach Craig Pitcher, after his team's four-set win over Cedar Falls in a Class 4A state tournament first-rounder Wednesday afternoon. "Every team is good here. You can't afford a hiccup like we had today."

Second-ranked City High (39-3) pretty much dominated, beating Cedar Falls (26-13) for the second time this season. The Little Hawks won games by scores of 25-18, 25-10 and 25-11.

But it was that 25-16  loss in Game 2 that stuck in their craws.

“It was definitely a wakeup call, (realizing) that every team is good at state,” said City High outside hitter Rachel Rinehart. “They were a great team, and you can't take them for granted.”

“We were confident, but we didn't play our game there, I guess,” said City High outside hitter Michaela Nelson. “But we came back. We more or less played with more heart and more energy after that.”

Nelson and Rinehart led a balanced offensive attack with 11 kills apiece. Liz Hubing added seven.

Nelson also had 16 digs and served 100 percent. Laura Shepherd led City High with 17 digs.

Erin Muir led the way with a match-high 36 assists.

“We really came together as a team,” Rinehart said. “You could see that the kills and everything were pretty evenly spread out because we have a lot of really good players.”

A lot of good players that got over their hiccups pretty quickly. The Little Hawks face Ankeny (29-8) in a Friday afternoon semifinal at 1:30.

“We focused on getting excited every single point,” Rinehart said.

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