5A Semifinals: Pleasant Valley-Dowling Recap, Reaction

<!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/d4U5l2OozHI","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/d4U5l2OozHI </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://ighsau.org/upl/downloads/library/volleyball-2024-4a5.pdf">BOX SCORE</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>CORALVILLE, Iowa - </strong>Top-ranked Pleasant Valley roared to a 2-0 lead in Wednesday's Class 5A state semifinal. The Spartans looked to be on their way to a relatively easy victory and a spot in the final. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Then, the match turned in West Des Moines Dowling Catholic's favor. The Maroons built an 18-9 lead in the third set. Last year's state finalist wasn't going down without a fight.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In addition to the Maroons coming to life, Pleasant Valley's emotion dropped off, which is natural in this sport when a team wins the first two sets. The Spartans leaned on their experience in that moment and rallied to take the third set, 25-23, for a 3-0 victory. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"They came out heavy and strong. I know they're capable of that. They're a great team," Pleasant Valley's [player_tooltip player_id='243182' first='Isabelle' last='Kremer'] said of the third set. "We had to hold our own, too." </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kremer got a 6-0 rally started when she rose up above the block and slammed it down in the middle of the defense. She then added a slick cross-court tip that scored. The Spartans had cut their deficit at 18-11 and kept chipping away even without any timeouts. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A [player_tooltip player_id='215760' first='Gabriella' last='Ragins']' kill drew Pleasant Valley even at 23-23. A pair of Dowling errors followed, and the Spartans were headed back to the state for the first time since '22. They'll look to win their first state championship since a year before that. Defending state champion Waukee Northwest is the obstacle to getting there. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We're gonna put it all out there. We're going to give it our best. We know what we're capable of. We know we can play hard. We're just going to have to outplay the other team, bring energy and embrace the atmosphere, for sure," Kremer said. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='243182' first='Isabelle' last='Kremer'] paced the Spartans in kills (16) and digs (13), while [player_tooltip player_id='508627' first='Stella' last='Smith'] contributed six kills and 3.0 blocks. [player_tooltip player_id='389006' first='Carsyn' last='Kelley'] dished out 30 assists, Maren Oullette had seven kills and Abbie Staats came up with nine digs for the winners. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='500340' first='Kaylie' last='Klein'] led Dowling with eight kills, and she added five digs, and teammate [player_tooltip player_id='215412' first='Ella' last='Rogers'] handed out 28 assists and produced eight digs. [player_tooltip player_id='775202' first='Kennedy' last='Klein'] hammered out nine kills, and [player_tooltip player_id='189864' first='Annalise' last='Grant'] had eight digs. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Despite their season coming to a close, Dowling left here with their heads held high. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We showed fight," Dowling setter [player_tooltip player_id='215412' first='Ella' last='Rogers'] said. "Like, we were not going to give up easily. We're going to fight for every single point that we can. Ultimately it didn't go our way, but we were able to fight." </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/hUErqoK3igQ","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/hUErqoK3igQ </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->