Marissa Meyer could barely contain her excitement following Tuesday’s volleyball match against visiting Cedar Rapids Prairie.
“I don’t even have words (to describe it),” Meyer said. “I’m just so excited. We’ve worked for it the whole season. We had this saying the whole season, ‘Grind time. Pride time. Shine time.’ And we did shine.”
Nobody shined more than Meyer, who pounded 14 of her team’s 34 kills and hit .545 on the night as seventh-ranked Ankeny Centennial rolled to a 25-14, 25-20, 25-17 victory over the No. 11 Hawks in a Class 5A regional final. The Jaguars (30-9) advanced to the state tournament for the eighth time in nine years.
“It was awesome,” said Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart. “We wanted to serve tough and keep them out of system, which when we were doing that we were scoring lots of points. We also wanted to get the ball to Marissa a lot, and we did, and she hit great. I thought we executed really well.”
Senior setter Morgan DenBeste racked up 22 assists, four kills and 10 digs in the win. After the match, she draped herself in the state qualifier banner that was presented to the Jaguars and laid down on the court.
“It feels great,” said DenBeste. “It’s the same rush as last year. I’m so excited to bring this team back to state.”
Centennial got off to a fast start in the first set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead behind a pair of aces from Peyton Mitchell. The Jaguars later went on a 6-0 run, getting two kills from Meyer as the margin grew to 14-5.
“I think the key was spreading out our offense and moving the ball around a lot,” Mitchell said.
Centennial eventually closed out the set on back-to-back hitting errors by Prairie, which also struggled with its serving throughout the match. The Hawks finished the season at 22-14.
“I wasn’t counting on them to miss serves,” Rinehart said. “Those feel like freebies so they felt good when they did. We were ready for tough serving.”
Prairie found a groove in the second set and built a 16-11 advantage on a kill by Alexis Moses. But Meyer answered with two consecutive kills to spark a rally, and the Jaguars went on a 14-4 run to win the set.
Delainey Winkel had one of her five kills and then added a block to help close it out.
“It was really important (to win that set),” Winkel said. “We worked so hard to come back.”
Kendra Kasperbauer contributed two kills during Centennial’s surge. Taylor Bechen then had an ace and served the last five points to break a 20-20 tie.
“That was huge,” Rinehart said. “I was really proud of our girls to stick in until the end, and we did talk about it. There were going to be times when we had leads and you have to keep pushing, and there were times when we’d be behind and you can’t panic. I was very proud of them. Taylor gave us some tough serving down that stretch, and we had a wall at the net. That combination helped us win that game.”
In the third set, Centennial jumped out to a 13-3 lead. Prairie eventually closed the gap to 15-13 before the Jaguars pulled away to close out the match.
Meyer finished it off with another kill.
“It feels so good,” Meyer said. “It…feels…so…good!”
Mitchell and Monica Mirembe each had four kills in the victory. Meyer, Mirembe and Winkel each had a pair of blocks.
Libero Ella Becker contributed 13 digs. Bechen added six more.
As a team, Centennial completed 73-of-79 serves (92.4 percent). Becker was a perfect 12-for-12 from behind the line.
“Our serving game is crucial,” DenBeste said. “If we serve and pass like we did (tonight), we’ll beat any team.”
Centennial will play No. 2 Pleasant Valley (30-4) in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Monday at noon at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The Spartans advanced to state with a four-set victory over No. 14 Iowa City West.
“I think the girls are ready, and I know they want it,” Rinehart said. “We’re going to prepare the best we can, and I’d love to make it a long week.”
