Le Mars beats SB-L in first round thriller

The Bulldogs jumped on Sergeant Bluff-Luton early and took the primary two units, however the Warriors bounced again on their dwelling court docket at Sergeant Bluff-Luton Elementary Faculty earlier than Le Mars took the drama-filled decisive fifth set to take the Class 4A Area 1 first spherical match, 25-16, 25-15, 20-25, 24-26, 15-13.

“I’m simply tremendous pleased with the group,” mentioned Le Mars second-year head coach Jess Wolles. “They confirmed that they wished to be right here and that we’ve the power to play with aggressive groups. The women actually persevered.

“They got here out robust and completed robust.”

Le Mars advances to tackle No. 6 Lewis Central within the regional semifinal on Thursday in Council Bluffs.

If volleyball is mostly a sport of runs, Tuesday’s postseason match between Missouri River Athletic Convention foes was that in spades.

The edges met twice this season, as soon as in convention play and as soon as on the Western Christian Invitational. Each went to SB-L.

The Bulldogs have been decided to make Tuesday totally different.

As a group, Le Mars went for 16 ace serves. Junior proper facet Holly McNaughton had 5 to go along with 13 kills and 7 digs.

“That is the primary time in my highschool profession that we’ve gotten previous the primary spherical, in order that feels actually good,” mentioned McNaughton. “Being on this group and eventually successful within the playoffs is already memorable.

“Our coach saved telling us coming into the sport that it’s at all times onerous to beat a group a 3rd time. We knew we might do it, the primary two matches have been actually shut, so we actually wished to return out and beat them.

“We simply wanted to maintain our power up all through. This offers us a lot momentum going into Thursday.”

McNaughton served three straight aces within the fifth. That got here after the Warriors scored the primary 4 factors of the set however the Bulldogs bounced again with 4 straight of their very own behind the 5-foot-7 junior exterior’s serving.

“(Going into Set 5), I simply informed them to play their sport,” mentioned Wolles. “These first 4 factors (for SB-L), we actually struggled, I might inform their confidence was shaken a bit bit, however we referred to as a timeout and so they went out after that and have been robust. They labored collectively as a group and did an ideal job ending it.”

Earlier than Le Mars scored its match level on a Sergeant Bluff-Luton violation, the fifth set noticed seven ties (excluding the 0-0 begin to the body), the final being at 13-13.

However Le Mars’ Taylor Mackey got here up with an enormous kill for her eighth of the match to arrange the successful level.

Junior Lily Kirby and Mackey each had eight kills for the match. Senior Lexi Hurd led the Bulldogs with 13 and junior setter Aubree Leusink dished out 43 assists.

“I feel we got here into the primary two units nervous,” Leusink mentioned. “However after we received these, we have been actually free. Even after dropping the third and fourth units, we thought that we earned the appropriate to be in that spot and will pull it out. We’ve labored actually onerous to get right here and acquired the end result we wished.

“We positively had one thing to show. I feel proving individuals mistaken was our largest motivation coming into the match. I’ve a lot confidence in our hitters, anyone can put it away for us.”

The Bulldogs (12-23) got here out scorching in taking the primary two units and never permitting SB-L (12-21) to attain greater than 16 factors in both set.

Set 3 extra of the identical as Le Mars scored the primary three factors of the third, however the Warriors stormed again to take the lead at 6-5 and by no means seemed again, although Le Mars did keep inside hanging distance because the lead by no means grew to greater than seven.

SB-L wanted further factors to win the fourth after Le Mars made a push to tug it to 25-24 after trailing 23-21 after the Warriors acquired a kill by sophomore Bre VanDenTop, who ended with match-high 23 kills and junior setter Aussie Obbink registered 49 assists, additionally a match finest.

Regardless of the season ending sooner than anticipated, the Warriors ought to carry again a proficient squad in 2024 because the group loses just one senior, albeit a significant contributor in Kamea Van Kalsbeek, who completed the match with 9 kills, placing her simply shy of 150 for the season.

Obbink ends the season with 618 assists and VanDenTop led the group with 303 kills for the marketing campaign as these two could possibly be one of many MRAC’s high setter/hitter duos subsequent season.

However because the match grew tighter, the Le Mars protection acquired higher. Senior libero anchored the Bulldog again line with 19 digs to go along with an ace.

“We work actually on the psychological facet of the sport,” Wolles mentioned. “The women love volleyball and preserve swinging. In the event that they made a mistake, they brushed it off and centered on the following level.

“It will give us lots of momentum. Lewis Central is a really powerful group, however with this win, we proved we needs to be there.”