It’s go-to-state time in prep volleyball
By Steven Allspach | Posted: Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Ah, the complexities of the Bishop Heelan volleyball system.
"We run a three-middle offense and it is pretty complex,'' said Heelan Coach Lori Slight. "It's a offense I ran at the college level (Northwest Missouri State) and we get a lot of girls swinging at the ball from different angles.''
So, to solve the mysteries of the Heelan offense, go figure.
That's what MOC-Floyd Valley will have to do tonight in a Class 3A regional final at West. The go-to-state showdown will start at 7 o'clock.
Heelan's two-time defending state champs are 38-11 and MOC-Floyd Valley, which has lost twice this season to the Crusaders, is 19-15.
The defending state champs, swinging along on stars shooting for a potential 11th straight state tourney trip, take their lead from hitters Carli Tritz, a junior, (264 kills), Baylee Strachan (245 kills), Kelsey Tweet (228 kills) and Maggie Vondrak (171 kills).
Seniors Strachan and Tweet have been highly recruited and last week Strachan committed to a scholarship offer from Division I Winthrop last week and Division II power Wayne State is actively recruiting Tweet.
Heelan has a whole deck of other aces, so to speak. Several Crusaders are masters of the jump serve and the team leads the state in service aces with 448. MOC-FV, by comparison, has 284 service aces.
Amy Johnson (251) and Haley Huisman (183) lead MOC-Floyd Valley in kills, while senior Kim De Jong (no relation to Slight, whose maiden name is De Jong) is a steady and creative setter with 700 assists and 109 digs while running a 5-1 offense.
"I expect a very competitive match whether it goes 3, 4 or 5 (sets),'' said Slight. "We know and understand each other very well.
"Coach McMillen (Leeanne) is an outstanding coach so her team will be well-prepared for us.
"One key might be depth. I'll put my second team, so to speak, up against any in the state and feel confident about winning.''
Depth, may indeed, be a factor.
Heelan's Maggie Vondrak, who sat out the Denison-Schleswig match after suffering a knee injury in a first-round win over Sergeant Bluff-Luton, may miss tonight's contest.
"We'll see how Maggie feels before the match,'' Slight. "She was running around with us a little bit Monday. But, Mary Jo Twiford filled in against Denison-Schleswig and did a great job.''
Twiford, a 6-foot junior, has 34 kills. Another 6-footer, freshman Natalie Vondrak, has 107 kills.
Tonight's winner will face the Harlan-Winterset winner in a first-round state tournament match.
Ankeny blocks East
East is no stranger to highly ranked competition, but the Black Raiders face a towering task in second-ranked Ankeny in a Class 4A regional final in Fort Dodge.
The Black Raiders have tangled with Heelan six times this season, winning one of those two-set confrontations on Oct. 18, and they've also lost three times to Hull Western Christian's top-ranked two-time defending Class 2A state champs.
Ankeny's only loss is a five-set duel to top-ranked Johnston. The Hawkettes swept eighth-ranked Ames in the regional semifinal 25-15, 25-11, 25-20.
Chelsea Semprini, a 6-1 southpaw, and 6-3 Iowa State recruit Hannah Johnson lead Ankeny, but the 36-1 Hawkettes also have big hitters in Amber Aschoff (6-1), Erin Roggenburg (5-11) and 5-11 freshman Maddie Manning. Aschoff has 254 kills, Semprini 224 and Johnson 218.
Emily McCarthy (292), Melissa Mounts (240), Brianna Mozer (190) and Megan Stiles (189) pace East in kills.
The Black Raiders improved to 23-17 with a regional semifinal final win over North.
SSC opens
While Heelan and East seek state tourney berths in Iowa, Coach Lora Crowe's South Sioux City team opens post-season play tonight in the Nebraska Class B-3 district tourney at Fremont.
The fourth-seeded Cardinals, 14-13, meet fifth-seeded Blair (8-14) at 5 o'clock. Third-seeded Omaha Mercy (14-12) and sixth seeded Omaha Roncalli (10-18) square off in the other match.
The SSC-Blair winner will meet top-seeded Omaha Skutt (19-10) in the semis in Fremont Thursday (5 p.m.). Omaha Duchesne (16-7) is the No. 2 seed.
"We run a three-middle offense and it is pretty complex,'' said Heelan Coach Lori Slight. "It's a offense I ran at the college level (Northwest Missouri State) and we get a lot of girls swinging at the ball from different angles.''
So, to solve the mysteries of the Heelan offense, go figure.
That's what MOC-Floyd Valley will have to do tonight in a Class 3A regional final at West. The go-to-state showdown will start at 7 o'clock.
Heelan's two-time defending state champs are 38-11 and MOC-Floyd Valley, which has lost twice this season to the Crusaders, is 19-15.
The defending state champs, swinging along on stars shooting for a potential 11th straight state tourney trip, take their lead from hitters Carli Tritz, a junior, (264 kills), Baylee Strachan (245 kills), Kelsey Tweet (228 kills) and Maggie Vondrak (171 kills).
Seniors Strachan and Tweet have been highly recruited and last week Strachan committed to a scholarship offer from Division I Winthrop last week and Division II power Wayne State is actively recruiting Tweet.
Heelan has a whole deck of other aces, so to speak. Several Crusaders are masters of the jump serve and the team leads the state in service aces with 448. MOC-FV, by comparison, has 284 service aces.
Amy Johnson (251) and Haley Huisman (183) lead MOC-Floyd Valley in kills, while senior Kim De Jong (no relation to Slight, whose maiden name is De Jong) is a steady and creative setter with 700 assists and 109 digs while running a 5-1 offense.
"I expect a very competitive match whether it goes 3, 4 or 5 (sets),'' said Slight. "We know and understand each other very well.
"Coach McMillen (Leeanne) is an outstanding coach so her team will be well-prepared for us.
"One key might be depth. I'll put my second team, so to speak, up against any in the state and feel confident about winning.''
Depth, may indeed, be a factor.
Heelan's Maggie Vondrak, who sat out the Denison-Schleswig match after suffering a knee injury in a first-round win over Sergeant Bluff-Luton, may miss tonight's contest.
"We'll see how Maggie feels before the match,'' Slight. "She was running around with us a little bit Monday. But, Mary Jo Twiford filled in against Denison-Schleswig and did a great job.''
Twiford, a 6-foot junior, has 34 kills. Another 6-footer, freshman Natalie Vondrak, has 107 kills.
Tonight's winner will face the Harlan-Winterset winner in a first-round state tournament match.
Ankeny blocks East
East is no stranger to highly ranked competition, but the Black Raiders face a towering task in second-ranked Ankeny in a Class 4A regional final in Fort Dodge.
The Black Raiders have tangled with Heelan six times this season, winning one of those two-set confrontations on Oct. 18, and they've also lost three times to Hull Western Christian's top-ranked two-time defending Class 2A state champs.
Ankeny's only loss is a five-set duel to top-ranked Johnston. The Hawkettes swept eighth-ranked Ames in the regional semifinal 25-15, 25-11, 25-20.
Chelsea Semprini, a 6-1 southpaw, and 6-3 Iowa State recruit Hannah Johnson lead Ankeny, but the 36-1 Hawkettes also have big hitters in Amber Aschoff (6-1), Erin Roggenburg (5-11) and 5-11 freshman Maddie Manning. Aschoff has 254 kills, Semprini 224 and Johnson 218.
Emily McCarthy (292), Melissa Mounts (240), Brianna Mozer (190) and Megan Stiles (189) pace East in kills.
The Black Raiders improved to 23-17 with a regional semifinal final win over North.
SSC opens
While Heelan and East seek state tourney berths in Iowa, Coach Lora Crowe's South Sioux City team opens post-season play tonight in the Nebraska Class B-3 district tourney at Fremont.
The fourth-seeded Cardinals, 14-13, meet fifth-seeded Blair (8-14) at 5 o'clock. Third-seeded Omaha Mercy (14-12) and sixth seeded Omaha Roncalli (10-18) square off in the other match.
The SSC-Blair winner will meet top-seeded Omaha Skutt (19-10) in the semis in Fremont Thursday (5 p.m.). Omaha Duchesne (16-7) is the No. 2 seed.
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