Four Super Quick Storylines From Monday’s Regional Finals
Tickets Punched! Class 3A, 4A, and 5A all had their regional finals with eight teams in each class making their way to the state tournament which starts next Tuesday. There are plenty of top athletes and teams who will be…
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Continue ReadingTickets Punched! Class 3A, 4A, and 5A all had their regional finals with eight teams in each class making their way to the state tournament which starts next Tuesday. There are plenty of top athletes and teams who will be in attendance, but what are some of the stories that the scores didn’t tell. What are some things to look forward to. We have a few thoughts based on Monday nights regional final results.
Class 3A Upsets
Calling them upsets is really a tough way to describe some of these matches. When you get to the regional final, everyone is good, and if you’re at this spot – got a game, got a chance. Nevada was able to take down Tipton while Union defeated Dike-New Hartford ending a 12 year streak of going to the state tournament. After seeing Nevada play live against Gilbert a few weeks ago, it was very obvious they would be a really tough team to knock out of the tournament. Incredibly balanced, solid ball control, well trained, disciplined, and if they were ever in a bind Senior and Drake commit Kacie Rewerts was there for an outlet. Union and Dike-New Hartford are all too familiar with each other and in Cedar Valley you can’t drive ten minutes without running into a solid volleyball community. The more these teams play each other, the more likely they will trade off who wins and loses. The ball was just in favor of the Knights and Junior outside, Belle Weber. This 3A tournament is going to be wide open!
Class 5A Sweeps – All But One
Class 5A went pretty much according to plan with the host teams all punching their ticket to the state tournament. Waterloo West was the only one to snag a set against Valley. The Wahawks had one of the best years in school history led by Avery Kroll who will continue her career at Northern State in Aberdeen, SD. Now that the field is set, the parity of this field is ridiculous. Cedar Falls has themselves among the top, but to have Waukee, a top team all season with quality wins earning an eight seed might be one of the best eight seeds the state tournament has seen. Waukee actually played Cedar Falls last year in the first round of the state tournament as well.
MAC Attack
The Mississippi Athletic Conference will be bringing quite the crew up to Cedar Rapids next week with Pleasant Valley (5A), North Scott (4A), and Davenport Assumption (3A), all punching their ticket last night. This area is always full of top talent, and now they will get their chance to compete on the big stage. These teams also have some top underclassmen with Kora Ruff leading PV as one of the top Sophomore setters in the state while her club teammate from Iowa Rockets, Ella McLaughlin is one of the top attackers for North Scott as a Sophomore, and Ava Schubert of Davenport Assumption might just be the best Freshman in the state.
Class 4A Pairings Very Well Could Have Been Regional Matchups
Every state does it a little bit different, but Iowa is unique where they wait until the end of September, early October to make a regional and assign teams accordingly. If you take a look at the Class 4A pairings, these teams are all relatively close to each other which really could have been regional finals for some of them. There will be some familiarity between some of these teams whether they have been in the same tournaments, same conference, or some of these athletes playing club together. Waverly-Shell Rock and West Delaware had to play each other in a regional final last year with West Delaware coming out on top. Western Dubuque has already played Xavier earlier this season, losing 0-3, but after defeating Wahlert this team is carrying a bunch of momentum into Cedar Rapids.