Solon reaches the championship match of the Linn-Mar Invitational

MARION — Saturday tournaments matter.

That’s a message Coach Ruben Galvan is trying to instill to his new volleyball team at Solon.

“We want to accomplish something when we come to these,” Galvan said. “There have been times I haven’t seen the urgency I wanted.

“We had lost to Linn-Mar twice. I pulled the girls aside and said, ‘What does this mean to you?’”

Apparently, it mattered plenty.

The Class 3A 11th-ranked Spartans swept the Lions, 21-12, 21-17, in the semifinals of the Linn-Mar Invitational tournament Saturday.

That put Solon in the tournament final against 5A No. 4 Pleasant Valley, which ultimately won the title, 19-21, 21-17, 15-10.

Solon (13-5) lost to Linn-Mar last weekend at Cedar Rapids Washington, then it was the same result in pool play here.

In bracket play, it was all Spartans.

“We’ve really worked on energy a lot,” Solon’s Macy Fuller said. “We got on some good scoring runs. We talked a lot. We were really excited.”

The Spartans went 2-1 in pool play and earned a No. 6 seed in bracket action. There, they swept Marion (21-12, 21-19) then settled a score with Linn-Mar.

Pleasant Valley and Linn-Mar got through pool play without a match loss. It was never easy for the Lions (10-8), who won consecutive three-setters against Solon, North Tama and Tipton.

“I think we played our best match of the day in the quarterfinals (a straight-set triumph over North Tama),” Linn-Mar Coach Nikki Rowland said. “We’ve got to figure out how to get through the ebbs and flows.”

The critical juncture on the final match was a six-point Game 3 run by Pleasant Valley (14-2), which put it in front, 8-3.

Recommended Reading

Photos: Linn-Mar Invitational volleyball tournament

For a team that won only one of four matches, Anamosa left an imprint.

The Blue Raiders (15-5) advanced to championship-bracket play with an upset of 5A No. 13 Dubuque Hempstead in their final pool match, then took the first set of their quarterfinal with Pleasant Valley before the Spartans prevailed, 16-21, 21-10, 15-12.

  Buy Photo

Linn-Mar Invitational

POOL A

Teams -- 1. Pleasant Valley 3-0, 2. West Des Moines Valley 2-1, 3. C.R. Kennedy 1-2, 4. Center Point-Urbana 0-3.

C.R. Kennedy def. Center Point-Urbana, 21-14, 10-21, 20-18

Pleasant Valley def. West Des Moines Valley, 19-21, 21-15, 15-9

Pleasant Valley def. C.R. Kennedy, 21-12, 21-14

West Des Moines Valley def. Center Point-Urbana, 17-21, 21-16, 15-13

West Des Moines Valley def. C.R. Kennedy, 21-12, 21-14

Pleasant Valley def. Center Point-Urbana, 21-5, 21-18

POOL B

Teams -- 1. Linn-Mar 3-0, 2. Solon 2-1, 3. North Tama 1-2, 4. Tipton 0-3.

Linn-Mar def. Solon, 16-21, 21-18, 15-13

North Tama def. Tipton, 22-20, 21-6

Linn-Mar def. North Tama, 17-21, 21-18, 15-10

Solon def. Tipton, 21-16, 21-18

Linn-Mar def. Tipton, 18-21, 21-16, 15-6

Solon def. North Tama, 11-21, 21-15, 15-12

POOL C

Teams -- 1. Marion 2-1, 2. Davenport Assumption 2-1, 3. Anamosa 1-2, 4. Dubuque Hempstead 1-2.

Marion def. Anamosa, 21-11, 21-13

Davenport Assumption def. Dubuque Hempstead, 21-17, 21-11

Dubuque Hempstead def. Marion, 21-13, 21-19

Davenport Assumption def. Anamosa, 21-11, 21-14

Marion def. Davenport Assumption, 19-21, 21-13, 15-7

Anamosa def. Dubuque Hempstead, 21-12, 21-16

Consolation Semifinals

C.R. Kennedy def. Tipton, 21-16, 21-12

Center Point-Urbana def. Dubuque Hempstead, 21-17, 21-15

Consolation Final

Center Point-Urbana def. C.R. Kennedy, 21-15, 19-21, 15-12

Quarterfinals

Pleasant Valley def. Anamosa, 16-21, 21-10, 15-12

West Des Moines Valley def. Davenport Assumption, 19-21, 21-19, 15-2

Linn-Mar def. North Tama, 21-13, 21-14

Solon def. Marion, 21-12, 21-19

Semifinals

Pleasant Valley def. West Des Moines Valley, 21-10, 21-19

Solon def. Linn-Mar, 21-12, 21-17

Championship

Pleasant Valley def. Solon, 19-21, 21-17, 15-10

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com