By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
As Usual, Super Conference Provides Drama:
We said it yesterday on Beyond the Game — the Super Conference volleyball schedule is a dog eat dog world. And one of the final nights of regular season competition it showed us why, with top teams cannibalizing each other once again.
Let’s take a look at the roundup from last night:
Notre Dame 3, #14 (1A) WACO 1
The No. 14 (1A) ranked WACO Warriors took set one, before Notre Dame rallied for a pair of 25-19 wins and a 26-24 victory to upset the Warriors last night in Wayland.
Josie Bentz was next level for the Nikes, the outside hitter finished with a game-high 26 kills, while Katy Stephens and Gabby Deery chipped in with 21 and 17, respectively.
Notre Dame has had a truncated season, but are certainly a team many will want to avoid come postseason play.
The Nikes improved to 7-5 — they’ll be at Cardinal, Monday.
WACO fell to 21-4 and 5-1 in conference play, they’ll take part in the Davis County tournament on Saturday.
#6 (1A) Holy Trinity 3, Cardinal 0
Holy Trinity got 12 kills from Claire Pothitakis as the Crusaders snapped a two-game losing streak, defeating Cardinal 3-0.
The Crusdaers picked up 25-15, 25-14 and 25-16 wins to earn victory No. 18 this season.
Swiss army knife star Kassi Randolph stuffed the stat sheet with six kills, 12 assists and a pair of aces, as well.
Holy Trinity will play in the Pella Tournament this Saturday.
Cardinal slipped to 8-11.
Mediapolis 3, Wapello 2
Josie Wolter finished with a game-high 24 kills as Mediapolis rallied for three straight set victories to defeat Wapello 3-2.
Mediapolis fell behind early dropping set one 25-16 and set two 26-24.
That’s when Wolter and the rest of the Bullette offense woke up, charging back for 25-23, 25-16 and 15-13 wins to keep their unorthodox perfect conference record alive.
7-13 overall, Mediapolis improved to 6-0 in SEISC-North play.
They’ll play in the Pella Tournament this weekend.
West Burlington 3, #10 (1A) New London 2
What a week it’s been for West Burlington.
The Lady Falcons picked up a win earlier this week against then No. 3 (1A) Holy Trinity, last night they claimed another bounty, taking down Maureen Heath and the No. 10 (1A) New London Tigers, 3-2 at West Burlington High School.
Sydney Marlow was sublime, with a game high 30 kills, while Kenna Marlow chipped in with eight.
West Burlington took a 2-0 lead early with 25-22 and 26-24 wins.
New London rallied for two straight of their own, winning 25-23 and 25-21.
The Lady Falcons had had enough, winning set five 15-8.
The win moved West Burlington to 18-3 overall and 7-1 in South Division play.
New London slipped to 14-7, they’ll look to rebound this weekend at the Davis County tournament.
Winfield-Mount Union 3, Louisa-Muscatine 0
As she always does, Winfield-Mount Union star Jenna Buffington came up big for the Wolves, sparking the offense with 16 kills as Winfield swept Louisa-Muscatine 25-9, 25-10 and 25-17.
Melina Oepping chipped in with six kills for Winfield who improved to 20-6 and 7-0 in conference play.
They’ll play in a pseudo North Division title match next Tuesday at Mediapolis.
Louisa-Muscatine dropped to 8-5.
Other area games last night:
- Central Lee 3, Danville 0
- Columbus 3, Lone Tree 1
IGHSAU Announces Regional Pairings:
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has released the 2020 State Volleyball Pairings for our 1A and 2A programs here in the KILJ-area.
In Class 1A, the lot of our programs will compete in Region Five.
The first round will begin on Monday, October 19th.
Opening round action will pit:
- Lone Tree at Highland, with the winner getting Holy Trinity. The Crusaders have a first round bye.
- Hillcrest Academy at Winfield-Mount Union
- Wapello at Burlington Notre Dame
- Sigourney at WACO
For the first time in what feels like forever, the Girls’ Union has split New London and Holy Trinity, avoiding a top-10 collision in a Region Final.
New London will compete in Class 1A Region 5.
Their first round matchup, also on Monday, October 19th, will be against Moulton-Udell at home.
The top-seed in Region 5 is Southeast Warren, they’ll get the winner of Diagonal and East Union.
In Class 2A, Mediapolis will open their postseason push at home against Danville in Region 8.
Should the Bullettes’ prevail they’ll earn a trip to West Branch.
Durant is the top-seed who will await the winner of a scrap between Pekin and Columbus.
Final Regular Season Friday Football Feast to Commence Tonight:
The final regular season Friday Football Feast will take us to Mapleleaf Athletic Complex tonight when the Mount Pleasant Panthers will try to even their ledger against the Burlington Greyhounds.
The Panthers are coming off a tough 44-7 loss last weekend to Fort Madison, but will have their full allotment of starters back this week after playing with just 13 of 28 upperclassmen last week due to coronavirus concerns.
Chief among those returners will be quarterback Jack Johnson and all of their offensive line, including Nebraska commit Henry Lutovsky.
Burlington on the other hand is limping to the finish line after falling 69-0 to No. 6 (3A) Washington last week and 55-7 to Fort Madison two weeks prior.
They enter play tonight with a record of 1-4.
Kickoff from Mapleleaf Athletic Complex is set for 7:30 p.m. and air-time on KILJ-FM will be 7:00 p.m. for the Panther Tailgate Show.
Other area games tonight:
- Mediapolis vs. Louisa-Muscatine
- Columbus vs. North Cedar
- Highland vs. Iowa City Regina
- New London vs. Twin Cedars
- Pekin vs. Van Buren County
- Lisbon vs. Wapello
- WACO vs. Winfield-Mount Union
- West Burlington/Notre Dame vs. Mid-Prairie
- Washington vs. Keokuk
- Fairfield vs. Fort Madison
IHSAA Releases Playoff Overview:
The Iowa High School Athletic Association has released a playoff overview for the upcoming football postseason.
First and second round playoff pod assignments are slated to be released on Saturday, October 10th at 12:00 PM. Third round and quarterfinal pods will be released Saturday, October 24th at the same time.
All schools are eligible football teams are allowed in the playoffs this year, and the IHSAA will “assign teams to pods throughout the postseason” with “geography and district placement…key determinants in pod assignments.”