(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Two miles are all that separate Ankeny High School and Ankeny Christian Academy.
Despite preseason scrimmages and players joining up together on club teams, the Hawkette and Eagle volleyball teams had never faced each other in a regular season matchup.
Well the stars finally aligned as the Hawkettes hosted a season-opening quadrangular on Tuesday, which featured the reigning Class 1A champ Ankeny Christian Academy, reigning Class 2A champ Dike-New Hartford and a solid North Polk team.
On a day where the Hawkettes and Eagles both swept Dike-New Hartford and North Polk, the winner of the first-time matchup would ultimately end the day with a perfect 3-0 record.
“It’s kind of been a whirlwind the last five days because we’ve had some pretty tough scrimmages last Wednesday at Centennial and here Saturday,” said Ankeny coach Liz Baethke. “I was a little bit worried about our legs and fatigue, but our ball control is so much more improved.”
The first set between Ankeny and ACA bounced back and forth with no lead surpassing two points until a pair of kills from senior Maya Ridgeway helped power a late 3-0 run for the Hawkettes.
The Eagles managed to bring the set back to a single-point deficit out of a timeout, but a couple of big swings from Ankeny’s Olivia Eike and Reagan Hanfelt helped the Hawkettes close out the set with a 25-22 victory.
ACA was determined to bounce back and the Eagles opened up the second set with four straight points and led by as much as 6-1 before the Hawkettes started to battle back.
“They are a very, very good team, and they’re very well coached,” Hanfelt said. “I’ve played with some of the Ankeny Christian girls and they’re a really hard team to beat.”
Behind Ridgeway, Eike and Kamryn Scheib, Ankeny not only tied the set at 12-12, but rattled off eight consecutive points to turn a two-point deficit into a 17-12 lead.
Macey Nehring and Anna Weathers helped lead a late rally from the Eagles, who cut the Ankeny lead down to two points after trailing 23-18 late in the second set. A kill from Weathers made it 24-22 before the Hawkettes held on to win the second set and secure the sweep.
For Ankeny, the Hawkettes were able to secure a 3-0 record to open the season thanks to the win over the Class 1A No. 1-ranked team in the preseason rankings. The Eagles, meanwhile, started with a 2-1 mark while giving the Class 5A No. 5-ranked team its toughest match of the day.
Some familiar faces also got to face off against each other with Ankeny’s Hanfelt and ACA’s Nehring, Katie Quick and Carley Craighead having played club volleyball together through Iowa PowerPlex.
“It’s super fun,” Quick said. “It’s always fun seeing them across the net and Reagan was a captain for that game, so we got to see each other. I love seeing girls I know.”
Ankeny opened the day with a sweep (25-7, 25-16) against a North Polk team that went on to get swept by ACA (25-13, 25-14) to end the day.
Dike-New Hartford brought some interest in having posted a 50-0 record while claiming its third Class 2A title in four years last season. However, the Wolverines graduated their three kill leaders who amassed 1,392 combined kills in Payton Petersen, Jadyn Petersen and Maryn Bixby.
Ankeny and ACA were able to make the most of their opportunities with the Eagles sweeping DNH (25-13, 25-22) in the first round of games and the Hawkettes ending the day with a sweep (25-18, 25-17).
“It went really well,” said ACA coach Michele Quick. “We came out real cool, calm, collected against Dike-New Hartford. Tightened up a bit against Ankeny, which was kind of to expect. But the scores I was happy with and a really nice finish against North Polk.”
Three of the four quadrangular teams may cross paths again sooner rather than later. Ankeny and Ankeny Christian Academy, along with Dike-New Hartford, are all set to play in Saturday morning’s Ankeny Centennial Invitational hosted by the Jaguars.
