Springville’s middles are the center of attention in regional volleyball semifinal sweep

SPRINGVILLE — Sometimes, things don’t go to script. And sometimes, when they don’t, it works out fine anyway.

Third-ranked Springville got a boost from middle hitters Lily Clark and Lauren Wilson in a Class 1A volleyball regional-semifinal sweep of Edgewood-Colesburg (25-23, 25-14, 25-19) Monday night.

“That’s not the way I thought it would go,” Orioles Coach Claude Howard said. “We really game-planned around our pins.”

Clark and Wilson led the slow-starting Orioles (32-4) with eight kills apiece, and they advanced to Wednesday’s regional final opposite Saint Ansgar (19-9), in a match to be played at Waterloo West.

Win that, and the Orioles will advance to the state tournament for the seventh time in nine years.

A faster start would help. Springville got down 12-6 in the opener before getting it in gear.

“I think we were a little over-cocky,” Clark said. “We wanted to win, three in a row, and we really wanted to get after it.”

A five-point run ignited the comeback. Then Springville scored six in a row for an 18-14 advantage.

Ed-Co (21-13) answered with six straight for a 20-18 lead, but the Orioles had one more gear.

Wilson put down two kills in a 5-1 run for a 23-21 edge. Ed-Co got even at 23-23, then the Vikings committed consecutive attack errors to give the Orioles the set.

“We had as bad a start as we possibly could have had,” Howard said. “But the kids fought through it. Our serve receive got better, and we were able to get our offense going a little bit.”

And much of it went through the middles.

“The sets were right there for us, and their blocking game wasn’t strong enough, and we were able to hit it,” said Clark, who also collected four blocks.

Springville controlled the final two sets.

“We had to get the nerves out, and once we did, we collected ourselves,” said Nia Howard, who distributed 23 assists. “We just had to take a deep breath.”

Ed-Co actually had more kills than Springville (33-31), but also had more errors. Kelsey Hansel put down 14 kills, Marin Gaul 10.

SPRINGVILLE 3, EDGEWOOD-COLESBURG 0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-19)

Class 1A Regional Semifinal, at Springville

Serving: Ed-Co 52-58 (.897), Springville 70-74 (.946)

Aces: Ed-Co 5 (Marin Gaul 2), Springville 7 (Lauren Wilson 3)

Kills: Ed-Co 33 (Kelsey Hansel 14), Springville 31 (Wilson, Lily Clark 8)

Assists: Ed-Co 32 (Ella Aulwes 32), Springville 27 (Nia Howard 23)

Blocks: Ed-Co 1 (Annie Hoffman), Springville 6 (Clark 4)

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com