The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released their Top 15 Iowa High School Volleyball Rankings for week 4. For Class 1A, there was not much movement with North Tama holding the top spot. Burlington Notre Dame moved up one spot and now rests at number 5. New London and Holy Trinity Catholic stayed put in their rankings at number 10 and 11, respectively.

Class 2A saw the first 9 spots stay the same with Dike-New Hartford staying number 1. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Freemont and West Burlington are ranked 3 and 4, respectively. West Burlington plays Holy Trinity Catholic tonight in what should be an very intriguing match.

Class 3A saw one team fall out of the top 15, Forest City with Cherokee jumping into the top 15. Des Moines Christian and Davenport Assumption stayed at 1 and 2.

The top three positions remained constant in Class 4A with Cedar Rapids Xavier pacing the teams followed by Marion and North Scott. Clear Creek-Amana jumped from 9 to 6, which was the second biggest movement upwards as Indianola moved from 11 to 7.

Class 5A had Pleasant Valley remain at the top but Iowa City Liberty is inching closer as they jumped two spots to capture 2nd. Three teams dropped out of the top 15 in Prairie, Bettendorf, and Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Muscatine, Linn-Mar, and Dubuque Senior took their places with 13, 14, and 15, respectively.

High School Volleyball

Winfield-Mt. Union, who is 13-5 on the season, is scheduled to play tonight, September 15^th, against Lone Tree.

Holy Trinity Catholic plays West Burlington tonight at home at 7:30 pm. The Falcons are 15-2 on the season and led by senior Sophia Armstrong, who has 140 kills on the season with a kill efficiency of 0.486.

New London’s next game will be against Mediapolis tonight, at 7:30 pm.

WACO will be looking for their tenth win of the season tonight, September 15th, at home against Pekin, the game scheduled to start at 7:30 pm.

Mt. Pleasant improved their record to 3-15 after defeating in a dramatic match against Washington on Tuesday winning in the fifth set, 15 to 12.Mt. Pleasant’s next game will be this Saturday, September 17th, when the Panthers compete at the Ottumwa Invitational.

High School Football

The Mt. Pleasant Panthers are at home tomorrow, September 16^th, to face off against West Burlington, who is also 0-3 after losing to Mediapolis last Friday. Jacob Richtman is top 10 in Class 4A for every meaningful passing statistic, while the Falcons are led by junior quarterback Caden Schwenker, who presents a dual threat with over 500 total yard and 5 total touchdowns through the first three games. Tune into KILJ for the game, kickoff scheduled for 7:30 pm, pregame at 7:15 pm.

WACO will face off with Iowa Valley tomorrow.  The Warriors are led by a pair of seniors in Isaac Oswald and Simeon Reichenbach, while Iowa Valley depends on dual threat quarterback Evan Kearney, who leads 8-man football with 30 total touchdowns on the season. This game is scheduled to start at 7 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union tries to right the ship against HLV, and New London will celebrate homecoming against English Valleys. Both games scheduled to start at 7 pm.

Fort Madison will defend their home field against Washington, while Fairfield will travel to play Knoxville. The Bloodhounds are led by Aidan Boyer, who has tossed 457 yards and four touchdowns. The Demons will lean on talented senior running back Tayven Stuart.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

Both soccer programs captured wins last night by the same score of 3-2. The women’s team got the scoring going first against Cornell University as Desire’ Adams assisted Giovana Pedrassani in the 13^th minute. The Tigers then took a 2-0 lead after Ana Medina-Suazo scored in the 33^rd minute off a pass from Jaycee Page. After allowing the Rams to tie the game at two, the Tigers battled and were awarded with a penalty kick that Medina-Suazo connected on, giving the Tigers the 3-2 win and moving them to 2-3 on the season. The Tigers will travel to clash with William Woods University at 1 pm on Saturday, September 17^th.

The Men’s team got their first win of the season against University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis. The Tigers scored the first two goals of the game with Thomas Mullen scoring first then Richard Arch in the 31^st minute. With the score being 2-1, Richard Arch scored his second goal of the match to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead, and the defense held out for the rest of the game resulting in a 3-2 final for the Tigers. Their next game will be Saturday, September 17th, to play William Woods University on the road at 3:30 pm.

The Tiger volleyball team will be competing in the UHSP Tournament in St. Louis starting September 16th and finishing up on the 17th, with their first match taking place at 5 pm against College of the Ozarks.

The Tigers football team will be at home this Saturday, September 17th, to play Finlandia University at noon. KILJ will be on the call with pregame set to start at 11:45 am.

Our guest for Tiger Nation today was Head Coach for Track and Cross Country, Hunter Davis. He discussed the culture he’s creating with his teams for the Tigers.

“So, I actually have a sign hanging to the right at my desk…and it says create a culture of excellence, and that doesn’t just mean in Track and Field and Cross Country that means make better men and women. People who are going to graduate with higher GPAs that help them get jobs and write them job recommendations and things like that, so that when it comes down to the future, they’re prepared way long past Track and Field and Cross Country.”

This Day in Sports History

1938 – Lloyd and Paul Waner became the first brothers to hit back-to-back home runs in a major league game. It was Lloyd’s last home run.

1946 – A Brooklyn Dodgers-Chicago Cubs game was called when players, umpires and fans were attacked by gnats.

1978 – Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks to win his 3rd World Heavyweight Boxing title.