The Ankeny Centennial volleyball players appeared to run out of gas during Tuesday’s 1 vs. 2 showdown against Dowling Catholic.
The top-ranked Maroons rallied for a 19-25, 27-25, 26-28, 25-18, 15-11 victory at No. 2 Centennial. They avenged a five-set loss to the Jaguars in last year’s Class 5A quarterfinals.
“I think the fourth set we kind of got off to a slow start, and we had our energy fall and that kind of carried with us in the fourth and fifth sets,” said Centennial junior Jaeden Pratt. “We definitely need to improve our blocking. We need to get a lot more touches and once we’re in a slump, we need to get our energy built back up and try to fight for more and more points.”
Mackenzie Dean pounded 33 kills as Dowling improved to 3-0 in the CIML Conference and 11-2 overall. The Jaguars’ records dropped to 2-1 and 10-3.
Dean had kills on four of the last five points in Set 4, then hammered four more kills as the Maroons built a commanding 9-2 lead in Set 5.
“Mackenzie came alive,” said Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart. “I don’t think they made any changes. I just thought we got a little quiet and hesitant on our end. You could just kind of feel the energy leave the room. Maybe that was too much digging Kenzie all night. I think we’re capable of doing that. We just have to figure out why our energy tends to fade away.”
Dowling extended its lead to 14-6 in Set 5 on a kill by Ava Groeteke, but Centennial refused to quit. The Jaguars scored the next five points and closed to within 14-11 on a kill by Delaney Miller, her 23rd of the match.
“We’re always a fight-back team, so I thought we could do it,” said Centennial setter Kambria Leazer.
Leazer served the last four points in that rally before her next attempt sailed out of bounds to end the match. She finished with 10 kills, 45 assists, three blocks and 15 digs.
“We were sticking with it the entire time,” Leazer said. “We just had to keep pushing–that was my mindset. I thought, ‘We got this.’ I never felt like we were going to lose at any point in the game.”
The Jaguars outhit Dowling by a .263 to .258 margin. Anna Sash had 14 kills and Pratt added 12 more while also completing all 25 of her serves.
Mya Lei-Butters racked up 16 digs, but it wasn’t enough to offset Dean’s brilliance.
“She’s a really great athlete,” Pratt said.
Centennial pulled away from a 7-7 tie to win the opening set. Leazer had three late kills to help close out the set as she repeatedly caught the Maroons off-guard with her attacks.
“I’m a front-row setter, and I love dumping,” Leazer said.
Dowling jumped out to a 5-0 lead in Set 2 and later held a 16-11 advantage before the Jaguars responded with a 6-0 run and went ahead on a kill by Sash. Centennial eventually took a 24-22 lead on another kill by Sash before the Maroons scored five of the next six points to even the match.
In Set 3, Dowling again rallied from a 24-22 deficit and took a 26-25 lead on a kill by Groeteke. But this time, the Jaguars answered with a rally of their own.
Centennial scored the next two points before Leazer’s well-timed dump gave the Jaguars a 2-1 advantage. The senior finished with a .588 hitting percentage.
“It was a good, high-level volleyball match,” Rinehart said. “I think that’s what you’d expect 1 vs. 2 to look like. I thought we played well early on. That was some of the best ball we’ve played this year.”
In the end, though, Dowling refused to go away. The Maroons went on an 8-2 run in Set 4 to erase an 8-5 deficit and never trailed again the rest of the way.
Siri Beecher had 15 kills in the win, while Ellie Muller added 11. Ella Rogers dished out 66 assists.
“We’ve just got to block more,” Leazer said. “But we’ll get back to practice and get back at it this weekend.”
The Jaguars will compete in the Metro Classic on Saturday at Southeast Polk.
“We’ve definitely improved a lot, but we’ve still got areas that we need to build on as a team,” Pratt said.
