Pleasant Valley finishes fast, claims the 5A state volleyball championship

CORALVILLE — Now that’s how a champion finishes.

Top-ranked Pleasant Valley closed with 14 of the final 16 points and claimed the Class 5A state volleyball crown Thursday morning with a four-set victory over No. 6 Waukee Northwest at Xtream Arena.

Set scores were 25-20, 24-26, 25-22 and 25-16.

“We’re a momentum-based team,” all-tournament captain Isabelle Kremer said. “Once we’re going, we’re going, and we’re not stopping.”

Pleasant Valley finished 35-2 and vanquished three consecutive opponents from the mighty Central Iowa Metro League on its climb to the title.

The Spartans took care of Waukee in three sets, West Des Moines Dowling in three, Northwest in four.

“I’m on Cloud Nine right now,” Spartans Coach Amber Hall said. “We set our goals high ... we started talking about this a year ago. It’s literally a dream come true.”

The title is Pleasant Valley’s second; the Spartans also struck gold in 2021.

It looked a bit tenuous for a while. Reigning-champion Northwest (28-10), which graduated five starters from last year’s title team, led 14-11 in Game 4.

But as Kremer said, once the Spartans got going, they got going.

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Two kills from Stella Smith and a pair of aces from Kremer ignited the rally and put the Spartans in front, 15-14.

They didn’t trail again, and Gabriella Ragins capped it with a kill and a block.

“(Northwest) was fighting very, very hard,” Ragins said. “We had to execute. We started mixing up our shots, and were able to go from there.”

Ragins joined Kremer on the 5A all-tournament team. The rest of the honor squad consisted of Avery Vogt and Logan Vogt of Northwest, Ella Rogers and Ellie Muller of Dowling, and Delaney Miller of Ankeny Centennial.

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Photos: Pleasant Valley vs. Waukee Northwest in Class 5A state volleyball championship

Kremer led the Spartans with 24 kills and four aces. Carsyn Kelley posted 29 assists.

Shed no tears for Northwest. The Wolves didn’t have a senior on their roster, and five of their starters were sophomores.

“The future is very bright for us,” said Logan Vogt, who paced the Wolves with 21 kills. “We’re going to continue to grow, and this is just the start.”

Pleasant Valley 3, Waukee Northwest 1

(25-20, 24-26, 25-22, 25-16)

Class 5A State Final, at Coralville

Serving: Northwest 79-85 (.929), PV 92-98 (.939)

Aces: Northwest 4 (four with 1), PV 8 (Isabelle Kremer 4)

Kills: Northwest 49 (Logan Vogt 21), PV 53 (Kremer 24)

Assists: Northwest 46 (Avery Vogt 37), PV 47 (Carsyn Kelley 29)

Blocks: Northwest 8 (Piper Ladwig 3), PV 7 (Kremer 4)

Digs: Northwest 57 (London Taylor 17), PV 70 (Olivia Hoskins 23)

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com