Weekday Matches Iowa Volleyball Fans Can’t Miss
With all the bleachers are pulled out, starting lineups, national anthems, student sections, and a legit three out of five set match can be played – there is just a different feel when it comes to a weekday match as…
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Continue ReadingWith all the bleachers are pulled out, starting lineups, national anthems, student sections, and a legit three out of five set match can be played – there is just a different feel when it comes to a weekday match as opposed to a tournament. Tournaments are great to get a lot of matches against high quality opponents, but its just different when its center court and the lights are shining just a little bit brighter. Here are some top matches in Iowa that will be key in conference races, momentum for the post season, and even potential preludes to post season rematches. Mark these matches on the calendar.
Tuesday, September 5
West Delaware @ Mount Vernon
West Delaware will be a team who will compete for a state tournament appearance in Class 4A and Mount Vernon will be a top team and favorite in Class 3A. Macey Kleitsch of West Delaware will be playing against her club teammate from Six Pack in Lauren Schrock who is a transfer into Mount Vernon from Solon and will be playing at Iowa. Big time early season matchup in Eastern Iowa.
Tuesday, September 17
Ankeny @ Dowling Catholic
These two squads will be some of the top in Central Iowa and favorites to head back to the state tournament. Dowling is incredibly deep with their backline as well as two solid setters and outside attackers. Ankeny will be returning the top prospect in the Class of 2021 in Phyona Schrader who is heading to Notre Dame as well as others returning from their 2018 state tournament team.
Tuesday, September 17
Iowa City Liberty @ Dubuque Wahlert
Liberty is started to build and will be a Class 5A squad this year led by Missouri State recruit, Rylee Fay. Fay will be going against her club teammate and Kansas State recruit in Aliyah Carter who will be the top outside in the state. The Golden Eagles will be looking for yet another state title this season after many counted them out in 2018 which ended in a four set state championship win against Xavier.
Thursday, September 19
West Liberty @ Tipton
Tipton will be coming back with Sommer Daniel (Utah) who can take over a match, but West Liberty is another year older with experience behind their two top pins in Martha Pace and Macy Daufeldt (Drake). Tipton will be looking to get back to the state tournament after finishing second in 2018 and West Liberty will be looking for a break through after missing out on last year’s state tournament.
Tuesday, September 24
Hudson @ Dike-New Hartford
The North Iowa Cedar League has some of the top small school talent in the state which is right out of the Cedar Valley area. DNH is always a favorite to win a state title and this year Hudson will be right there with Ashlynn Kuhn as one of the top middle blockers out of the Junior class.
Tuesday, September 24
Spirit Lake @ Western Christian
Western Christian has owned the Lakes Conference forever (not an exaggeration). However, Spirit Lake is building some momentum throughout their program with all around athletes and a strong Senior class. This will be a matchup to keep an eye on and also see how it progresses in upcoming years with young talent in the making.
Tuesday, September 24
Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln @ Sergeant Bluff-Luton
This matchup will feature two of the top outside hitters in Western Iowa in Elaina Bohnet for Abe Lincoln and St. Cloud State commit Kenzie Foley for SBL. SBL will be looking to once again get back to the state tournament in Class 4A after finishing runner up in 2017 while Abe Lincoln will have a power packed and experienced lineup that will contend for a spot in the Class 5A state tournament.
Tuesday, October 1
Xavier @ Cedar Falls
Cedar Falls will be one of the top ranked teams in Class 5A where Xavier will be a heavy favorite along with Wahlert in Class 5A. There will be plenty of Division 1 talent on this court with Cedar Falls having Alayna Yates (Dayton), Kacia Brown (Mississippi State), and Emerson Green (UNI Basketball) while Xavier has Eve Magill (Creighton) and a squad full of other collegiate talent. This will be a big game, tournament type feel for these two teams.
Tuesday, October 15
Davenport Assumption @ Pleasant Valley
These two teams will be extremely tough in the MAC and will both be a contender in their respective classes (Assumption in Class 3A and PV in Class 5A). There will also be quite a battle on the pin with Kaitlyn Morgan (Western Illinois) for PV and Emma Schubert for Assumption. However PV will have quite the advantage in the middle with Erica Brohm who is committed to Purdue-Northwest.
Tuesday, October 15
Gilbert @ Nevada
Two teams that have fluctuated between Class 3A and 4A will have really strong squads for 2019. Gilbert will have Thea Rotto, Haleigh Hadley, and setter Taylor Grinley while Nevada has had a strong summer winning the Minnesota-Duluth team camp and Senior, Kacie Rewerts, a Drake commit who is coming off All American honors playing for IPVA’s club team in the 17 American Division at USA Nationals.