Waukee Northwest’s fifth win over Ankeny Centennial is for the 5A state title

CORALVILLE — Familiarity breeds contempt, the saying goes.

Here’s what familiarity didn’t produce:

An upset. Or anything close to it.

Top-ranked Waukee Northwest handled No. 2 Ankeny Centennial for the fifth time this season. This time, it was 25-10, 25-21, 25-18, for the Class 5A state volleyball championship Thursday morning at Xtream Arena.

“Playing the same team so much, it pushes us to try new stuff,” said setter Avery Vogt, the lone senior in the Wolves’ starting lineup.

“It can be an advantage or a disadvantage,” Leah Janulewicz said. “We know the tendencies (Centennial has), and we wanted this so bad.”

Northwest (38-1) was in the championship match for the third consecutive year. The Wolves won the title in 2023, settled for second last year, then returned to the top Thursday.

“We never forgot our goals,” said Vogt, the all-tournament captain. “We have a lot of tools. If somebody is off their game, somebody else will step up.”

The Wolves outlasted Centennial (34-6) in a five-set CIML battle Sept. 2. They also beat the Jaguars in four Saturday-tournament settings, all in straight sets.

“We were happy to have this opportunity,” Centennial Coach Jessica Rinehart said. “We would have liked to have played better, but a lot of that was Northwest.

“Their size, their athleticism ... their setter is fantastic in moving the ball around. They just have all the pieces.”

Northwest won its final 21 matches, all via sweep in a stretch that encompassed 52 sets against some of the state’s best

The Wolves led the first set from start to finish, then quickly erased an 11-7 deficit in Game 2 with a run of eight straight points.

Up 10-9 in the finale, they scored five in a row, and then it was a matter of counting down the points.

Logan Vogt (14 kills) and Janulewicz joined Avery Vogt (36 assists on the all-tournament team, along with Centennial’s Tatem Schmidt and Mya Lei-Butters, plus Isabelle Kremer of Pleasant Valley and Kaelyn Wieland, West Des Moines Valley.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com