Five Takeaways: Urbandale at Ames
Urbandale topped Ames 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) on Tuesday, in an entertaining match. The J-Hawks improved to 8-8 with the win, while the Little Cyclones fell to 5-7. Here’s what stood out: Super frosh The most impressive player on…
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Continue ReadingUrbandale topped Ames 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) on Tuesday, in an entertaining match. The J-Hawks improved to 8-8 with the win, while the Little Cyclones fell to 5-7. Here’s what stood out:
Super frosh
The most impressive player on the floor was Urbandale’s 6-foot-0 freshman outside hitter Lily Dykstra. The only ways to know that Dykstra is, in fact, a 9th grader were the roster and a few Urbandale fans who chanted “She’s a freshman,” after her kills. She looked beyond her years as she elevated and swung hard to rack up a match-high 11 kills and four aces.
Her serves were tough to handle, as were her attacks, and she even played well in the back row with a couple of diving digs and a back-row kill. On one out-of-system ball, she deftly passed the ball to senior Rachel Brockney for a kill. Then, in one rally, she tipped a ball over the net, and when it came back, immediately called for another chance, this time for a hard-hit kill.
She did play a couple of balls that would’ve landed out-of-bounds and missed way long on one serve, but overall, it was all very impressive.
Coach Liz Baethke said that she’s seen Dykstra gain more confidence as the season has gone on, which makes sense considering she’s a freshman.
“She comes in, she’s swinging like she’s not used to a block, which she’s probably not, and then you come out here, and in our conference, they’re oak trees, and she has to maybe rethink things a little bit,” Baethke said. “But I think for her age, though, her composure, her competitiveness, is well beyond her years already, so I look forward to watching her progress over the years.”
Urbandale’s 6-foot-0 freshman outside hitter Lily Dykstra was hard to stop. She had 11 kills, including this one. #iahsvb pic.twitter.com/yywxnsGDux
— Hayes Gardner (@HayesGardner) September 18, 2019
A formidable front from Ames
Ames got a big lift up front from their blocks, as 6-foot-0 senior Christabel Forney and 6-foot-1 sophomore Alexa Kopaska made it difficult for J-Hawk attackers. They each had a few blocks and were quick to disrupt would-be kills.
6-foot-0 junior Maddie Timmermans also was key on blocks.
Offensively, Forney, a right side, finished with 7 kills, while Kopaska added 4 and Timmermans had 5.
The Ames back-row defense was solid, too, led by Abi Janzen. The senior libero accumulated several digs, including two diving one-handers that kept rallies going.
Necessary versatility
Urbandale was forced to play the third set without 5-foot-10 junior middle hitter Madi Lynch (who notched four blocks on the day), so they had to improvise. Enter Katie Carver.
The 5-foot-6 defensive specialist began the evening as the libero and notched 24 digs, but she was forced to switch to outside hitter for the third set, a position she played last year.
Carver tallied an ace and 2 kills (on 6 attacks), which is quite impressive considering her size.
Said Baethke: “I told my players, ‘I wish you tall girls could think like her because she knows how to mix up shots and she sees the court so well. Just think of how much better of a hitter and well-rounded you’ll become if you could do that.’”
Varied offense from Urbandale
Outside of Dykstra, Urbandale’s second most oft-used attacker was 5-foot-11 Rachel Brockney. The senior will play at Buena Vista next year, and showed she’s a capable middle hitter on Tuesday; she finished with 6 kills and 2 blocks, in addition to an assist, 6 digs and 2 aces.
The J-Hawks also got offense out of senior outside hitter Maia Bibbs. Listed at 5-foot-8, Bibbs was undersized at the net, but found ways to score around blocks. More than anyone else on Tuesday, Bibbs strategically found holes in the Ames defense: she notched 5 kills on 15 attacks, never powering through a block, but always finding open court. Her ability to effectively place it was uncanny.
The J-Hawks’ strong junior class
The J-Hawks also got plenty of help from the 2021 class, which should make them a strong team next year. In addition to the versatility of Carver, the J-Hawks saw contributions from 5-foot-11 Kiersten Baker, 6-foot-2 Meredith Umland, as well as Lynch.
Baker was one of Urbandale’s most valuable players. She notched 8 kills and hit a really solid .316. In the first set, she used a savvy tip to give the J-Hawks a 24-20 lead, and during the second set, she responded after misplaying a free ball to notch a textbook kill. She also added 5 blocks and 4 digs for the match.
Umland wasn’t always pleased with herself during the match — she made a few errors that should’ve been easy kills — but she still notched 3 kills and 4 blocks. And although Lynch sat with an injury late, she was still impactful, especially as a blocker.