Sports, Thursday, October 22nd

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Area Teams Advance to Region Semis:

#8 (1A) Holy Trinity 3, Highland 0 

The eighth-ranked Crusaders earned 25-15, 25-11 and 25-4 wins to quickly dispatch of Highland last night at Shottenkirk Gymnasium, in Fort Madison.

The win was Holy Trinity’s fourth consecutive, as they improved to 26-9 on the year.

Highland bows out of their season with a record of 7-17.

Holy Trinity moves into next Monday’s Class 1A Region 8 semifinal.

Burlington Notre Dame 3, Winfield-Mount Union 0

One of the state’s hottest teams stayed hot last night as Burlington Notre Dame rolled past Winfield-Mount Union, 3-0.

The Nikes won 25-22, 25-17, 25-17 to cruise into the semifinal round.

Sophomore Gabby Deery led Notre Dame with 20 kills, while Katy Stephens chipped in with 11.

Josie Bentz added seven kills, while Jenna Bentz paced the attack with 41 assists.

Jenna Buffington led Winfield-Mount Union with nine kills, while Melina Oepping finished with six.

Notre Dame will move on to Monday’s Class 1A-8 Third Round, where they will tango with Holy Trinity.

We’ll have that game on KILJ-FM — Nathan Bloechl will have call beginning at 7:00 p.m.

WACO 3, North Mahaska 0 

Morgan Graber finished with 13 kills as WACO cruised past the Warhawks of North Mahaska last night, 3-0.

WACO won 25-14, 25-17 and 25-17 to move on to the Region Semifinals — there, they’ll battle with Lisbon.

The win improved WACO to 25-7.

North Mahaska will bow out at 10-10.

#10 (1A) New London 3, Moravia 0

Keaura Williams and Natalie Burden led a balanced New London attack with nine kills apiece as the Tigers easily walked into the semifinal round with a 3-0 sweep of Moravia last night.

New London earned 25-8, 25-11, and 25-15 wins to move on.

The Tigers have won seven straight matches as they seem to be peaking at the right time.

They’ll battle with Melcher-Dallas on Monday — though the site is TBD.

First serve will be 7:00 p.m.

Melcher-Dallas picked up a 3-2 win over Lamoni.

They’ll enter Monday’s scrap with a record of 23-2.

West Branch 3, Mediapolis 0 

West Branch made quick work of Mediapolis as the Bears advanced to Monday’s semifinal round.

Mediapolis ends their season with a record of 7-16.

West Branch will take on Van Buren County at Mediapolis, per the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Mount Pleasant Volleyball at Burlington, Tonight:

The Mount Pleasant volleyball team is back on the road tonight in a Class 4A-8 Regional Semfinal when they take on the Burlington Greyhounds.

The Panthers split the season series against Burlington, sweeping the Greyhounds 2-0 on October 13th, while Burlington swept Mount Pleasant on August 24th.

The Greyhounds are 16-6 in the last 22 tilts against Mount Pleasant, but the Panthers have won four straight of their own since being swept on October 10th by Burlington Notre Dame.

Panther head coach Dave Streeter says their versatility will come in key against a tough Burlington team.

It allows me to have a different look on the offensive side. I can throw a couple different setters in there, everything just mingles together and they communicate and play better” Streeter explained.

First serve tonight will be 7:00 p.m. — you can listen on KILJ-FM.

Mount Pleasant’s Blint Moves to 2020 State Cross Country Meet:

Mount Pleasant junior Abby Blint led Lyle Murray’s group with a 12th place finish, running a lifetime best 20:06, qualifying for the 2020 State Cross Country Meet in the process yesterday afternoon at Monticello.

Belle Meador finished in 28th running 21:15.3 — the sophomore has a very bright future, she’ll be a lynchpin of future success for the Panther girls’.

Senior Cristina Carthey finished her season with a 37th place finish.

Carthey ran 22:04 to cap off a great season and career.

Wahlert Catholic captured the girls’ team title.

They were followed up by Davenport Assumption and Solon.

Blint will run at 3:30 p.m. at next Friday night’s Class 3A State Cross Country Meet in Fort Dodge.

On the boys’ side of things, freshman Ben Carthey just missed qualifying for State, finishing 18th overall running 17:21.4.

The top-15 auto-qualify for state.

Senior Luke Ryon was the Panthers’ next finisher. He ran 18:30.9 which was good for 48th.

Solon won the boys team title, followed up West Delaware and Wahlert Catholic.

Rays Even Up World Series:

Brandon Lowe clubbed two home runs, while Blake Snell struck out nine through 4-plus innings as the Tampa Bay Rays evened up the World Series with a 6-4 over the LA Dodgers.

Tony Gonsolin took the loss for the Dodgers, giving up one run on one hit in 1.1 innings.

Game Three will be Friday night, with first pitch at 7:08 p.m.