State volleyball retains strong NE Iowa flavor

Source: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, IowaNov.迷你倉 11--CEDAR RAPIDS -- A memorable final act ushered out the Iowa high school state volleyball tournament's ice age.Last fall, Class 2A's Dike-New Hartford and Class 4A's Charles City each overcame two-set deficits to prevail in championship thrillers. Union Community suffered an agonizing defeat as three match points slipped away in its Class 3A finals loss.Beginning Tuesday, Northeast Iowa's parade of state qualifiers will move from the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena back to the traditional state tournament venue inside Cedar Rapids' newly renovated U.S. Cellular Center.Dike-New Hartford and Tripoli are back in the state field for a seventh consecutive season. Waverly-Shell Rock, Union, Grundy Center and Janesville are each making a fourth consecutive trip. Charles City has extended its streak to three and Sumner-Fredericksburg is a repeat qualifier. Independence will be joining the party as it makes its state tournament debut.The championship drive following a trip down I-380 is one that takes more than athleticism and strength to complete. It's also a test of mental resolve."It takes tough-minded kids, kids who are willing to work together and not lose sight of what the overall goal is," Charles City coach Matthew Johnson said, addressing the ability to orchestrate a state tournament comeback. "That's the nice thing about volleyball compared to basketball. If we play a bad first half of basketball we might come out of the locker room down 20 points. You play a couple games of volleyball not very well and you're still starting game three over 0-0."Dike-New Hartford coach Diane Harms returns seven players who saw court time during last year's comeback against Western Christian in a battle of nationally rated teams. She points to her team's focus and ability to make mid-match adjustments as assets that complement an elite athleticism and a battle-tested rotation."You're going to have opportunities, they're going to have opportunities," Harms said. "You have to make the most of the chances you are given and try to be aware and alert as far as what might be taking place -- the types of plays that might be happening on the court and finding your opportunities."Union coach Brian Jesse saw his team come out on both sides of state tournament thrill rides last year. His Knights prevailed in a 15-13 fifth set in the opening round, and dropped a 17-15 fifth set in the finals.The Union coach says he'll often try to test his team's mental toughness in practice through a variety of pressure-filled drills."There's always going to be a net serve or a bad call," Jesse said. "We just try and prepare ourselves to be mentally tough to win the next point. We talk about that all the time, play the next point."Last year's finals setback has served as a motivator for Union's five returning starters."We had some close matches and played the big points pretty well," Jesse said. "Sometimes you're going to come up a little short. ... We felt fortunate to be there, disappointed that we didn't quite get it done. But we were very proud of what we got accomplished."Championship trophies have become a common sight for Tripoli and Coach Will Baumann. The Panthers have won the last five Class 1A titles and enter this year's state tournament with an opportunity to tie Dubuque Wahlert's state-record string of six.Hammering home slogans such as "emotion trumps cognition," Baumann stresses the importance of maintaining a winning attitude."If you can't dictate the mental aspect then you're not going to dictate your skill," Baumann said. "That's something we address every day in practice. There's always stress and always goal in pretty much every drill we do. We try to build their mentality as well as their skill."Ultimately, Baumann has found championships are determined by an ability to minimize unforced errors."When you get to the state tournament everybody is a good team," Baumann said. "The good teams and the great teams, there's just a very small degree of separation. One of those things we can control is unforced errors. Hopefully that will allow the separation to take place. It always does and hopefully we're on the right side of it."At the end of the day, it's a matter of embracing the state's biggest stage."We talk about enjoying the experience," Johnson said. "Don't let the experience overwhelm you. We want to still go down there and play volleyball and have fun."Class 1ANET NOTES: Janesville is primed to be a title contender in its fo自存倉rth consecutive trip to state. The Wildcats lost just two starters from last year's semifinal team and are led by Northern Iowa commit Kendyl Sorge's 2.8 kills and 3.2 digs. Senior setter Brittany Hanson (9.91 assists) and libero Destiny Christopher (3.51 digs) are battle-tested state tournament veterans who bring stability to the passing game. Syliva Amlie (2.94 kills) and Anna Backstrom (2.44 kills) bring size to the net standing 5-foot-10. ... Tripoli is in pursuit of a sixth consecutive title and 12th championship since 1999. The Panthers are led by outside hitter Elizabeth Seehase (2.79 kills), middle Heather Heine (2.33 kill, 0.47 blocks), setter Toni Moeller 6.28 assists and libero Paige Figanbaum 3.59 digs. Janesville defeated Tripoli in straight sets for the Iowa Star Conference title. ... Top-seeded Holy Trinity is paced by 6-foot-4 junior Mikaela Foecke's 5.83 kills per set on .613 hitting.TRIPOLI COACH WILL BAUMANN (on Iowa Star rival Janesville's rise): "Janesville is a tremendous team this year. Everything has kind of culminated from the past couple of years in this year's team. They're fantastic."Class 2ANET NOTES: Two-time defending champion Dike-New Hartford enters state with six starters back from last year's undefeated team. The Wolverines own a 96-match win streak over Iowa opponents. Their lone loss is to a St. James Academy (Kan.) team that has climbed to the No. 1 spot in PrepVolleyball.com's national rankings. D-NH is ranked No. 4 nationally. Briana Weber leads the Wolverines with 4.51 kills on .446 hitting to go with 2.47 digs. ... Western Christian has lost to D-NH in the last two state finals. The Wolfpack return five starters and are ranked No. 60 nationally. ... Grundy Center is back in the Class 2A field after being eliminated by Western Christian in the semifinals of the 2011 state tournament and reaching the championship match in 1A last year. Libero Riley Sents leads the Spartans with an average of 8.3 digs per set. GC overcame a 2-0 deficit in the regional finals to advance to its fourth consecutive state tournament. ... Sumner-Fredericksburg is another team that had to sweat out its regional final. The third-seeded Cougars defeated Wapsie Valley in five sets. S-F is led by senior outside hitter Kally Frisch's 4.86 kills and libero Ashley Larson's 4.34 digs.DIKE-NEW HARTFORD COACH DIANE HARMS (on her program's rivalry with Western Christian): "It creates a great atmosphere to play in. Western is a very strong volleyball program. They have a strong tradition similar to what we have. If you get the opportunity to play in those situations, it's a special environment."Class 3ANET NOTES: Union is making its fourth consecutive state tournament appearance and returns five starters from last year's runner-up team that lost to MOC-Floyd Valley in a five-set final. The Knights are led by junior Maria Wrage's 3.9 kills, senior setter Lauren Barz's 10.26 assists and Breann Bader's 4.53 digs per set. ... Independence is making its first trip to state following a school-record 36 win season. Sisters Carlie and Kaitlin Niedert along with outside hitter Shelby Lehman each average over 2 kills per set. ... Top-seeded MOC-Floyd-Valley is led by Iowa State commit Alexis Conaway who averaged 4.77 kills on .477 hitting to go with 2.57 digs per set.Class 4ANET NOTES: Waverly-Shell Rock and Charles City will be meeting for the seventh time in the last two seasons. Waverly-Shell Rock snapped a five-match losing streak to Charles City with a 2-0 win over the Comets in the Northeast Iowa Conference tournament. Charles City all-state setter Hali Hillegas averages 9.77 assists per set and Jackie Foster leads the team with an average of 3.39 kills. ... Libero Abby Caldwell leads W-SR with 4.82 digs per set, while Elena Gray averages 4.3 kills per set. Go-Hawks coach EaVon Woodin ranks second on Iowa's career volleyball wins chart with 879 victories. She is this year's recipient of the IGHSAU Golden Plaque of Distinction Award.CHARLES CITY COACH MATTHEW JOHNSON (on reuniting with Waverly-S.R. in the first round): "EaVon has done a great job with their program and we've got a lot of respect for what she's done. It's neat to have a chance to play against them on a big stage. Knowing that we've each won one (this year), both teams have a lot of confidence."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (Waterloo, Iowa) Visit Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (Waterloo, Iowa) at .wcfcourier.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉