Prep Volleyball- The road to Xtream Arena in Coralville will get underway on Monday, October 20th, for Classes 1A and 2A, while Classes 3A, 4A, and 5A will start their journey on Tuesday, October 21st. Now, teams know who they have to go through first with the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union releasing the Regional Pairings yesterday. Here’s a look at our local matchups.
Class 1A
We will be focused on region 2 for our local teams with #2 Holy Trinity Catholic entering as the #1-seed for the region, thus earning a bye into the second round on October 22nd.
For the first-round matchups, Winfield-Mt. Union will get to host Pekin, WACO will travel to Burlington Notre Dame, and Wapello will tangle with New London at home with the winners playing against one another. All games will be at 7 pm.
The Wolves have won their last eight games against Pekin, including a four-set victory in late September. The winner will travel to Fort Madison to take on the Crusaders.
WACO will have a tough hill to climb with the Nikes boasting a 10-2 record at home this season with those two losses coming against West Liberty and Holy Trinity Catholic.
Lastly, Wapello has not dropped a set against New London in their last three contests.
On the bottom half of the bracket, Dunkerton is the top seed, but the bracket also includes Clayton Ridge, Turkey Valley, Central Elkader, Edgewood-Colesburg, Kee High, Starmont, and West Central.
For a full look at the bracket, follow this link: Class 1A Region 2 Bracket
Class 2A
Looking at region 8, we have got a trio of local teams to look out for in Danville, Van Buren County, and West Burlington. The Bears will get to play their first-round contest at home against Cardinal, while the Warriors and Falcons will clash on Wednesday, October 22nd, in Keosauqua.
Danville and Cardinal have not met on the floor since 2022, but the Bears hold the series lead since 2008 with a 14-8 record. Danville’s record does not reflect the skill of the team with five matches going to their tiebreaker set. They have managed to take a set from Holy Trinity Catholic along with Van Buren County and Central Lee.
Danville’s senior libero Graci Huff wants the season to last as long as possible,
“… So I want to just prolong it as much as you can and get as much time with my teammates and my coaches as I can before the seasons over and prove to everybody that we are a good team and show them what we should have been showing them all season.”
After a long time of losing to West Burlington—13 straight matches—Van Buren County snatched the two matches this season by narrow margins, needing a tiebreaker set to decide the final: 15-8 in game one and 16-14 in game two.
The winner between Danville and Cardinal will take on Regina Catholic on Wednesday on the road for the top half of the bracket.
Teams on the bottom half of the bracket: Nashua Plainfield, Central Springs, Sumner-Fredericksburg, South Winneshiek, and Gamer Hayfield Ventura.
For a full look at the bracket, follow this link: Class 2A Region 8 Bracket
Class 3A
Region 2 will get right to the point by pinning Mediapolis against Central Lee on Tuesday, October 21st, at 7 pm. The Bulldogs will get to host after winning five of the six sets in their two matchups this season.
Overall, Mediapolis holds an 18-2 over Central Lee since 2007. The winner will compete against the winner between Assumption and Camanche on Thursday, October 23rd, with the Saints entering the region as the top seed.
The bottom half of the bracket will include Wilton, Maquoketa, Wahlert Catholic, and Monticello.
For a full look at the bracket, follow this link: Class 3A Region 2
There will be no meet up—initially—between two Southeast Conference (SEC) foes in region 7 as Fairfield will be in the top half of the bracket, while Washington is set in the bottom half of the bracket.
The Trojans will play on Tuesday at West Liberty with the winner taking on the winner between Mid-Prairie and Davis County. The Comets have dominated the series over Fairfield, earning a 4-0 record in the process with this year’s matchup marking the first time the Trojans have won a set.
Washington will host Benton on Tuesday with the winner taking on Center Point-Urbana and Vinton-Shellsburg. The Demons will be looking for their first win over the Bobcats in their fourth contest against one another.
For a full look at the bracket, follow this link: Class 3A Region 7
Class 4A
A bit of déjà vu for Mt. Pleasant in region 1 as the Panthers will get to host their first-round matchup against a conference opponent with the winner moving on to play a daunting Clear Creek Amana squad.
This year, the Panthers will host Keokuk on Tuesday at 7 pm with KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, on the call. Mt. Pleasant has picked up 34 wins over Keokuk in 42 matches since 2007, including a home sweep in early September.
The Panthers will be leaning on their two senior attackers in Alex Scott and Addison Clark, as the pair combined for 27 kills against the Chiefs.
The bottom half of the bracket will have Xavier, Oskaloosa, and Grinnell.
For a full look at the bracket, follow this link: Class 4A Region 1
We will see another SEC showdown in region 6 with Fort Madison traveling to Burlington on Tuesday at 7 pm. The winner will square off North Scott on Thursday.
The Bloodhounds have dropped their past five matches against the Grayhounds without winning a set.
The bottom half of the bracket will include Independence, Decorah, and Western Dubuque.
For a full look at the bracket, follow this link: Class 4A Region 6
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KILJ is excited to bring the tournament trail to you live, so stay tuned to find out what game will be calling live as the games draw closer!