(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
After initially leading two sets to none, the Ankeny Centennial volleyball players found themselves with their backs against the wall.
The third-ranked Jaguars were just one set away from sweeping No. 9 Waukee Northwest in their home opener on Tuesday. But in a twist of fate, Centennial was a mere one point away from suffering a reverse sweep at the hands of the Wolves.
Then the Jaguars naturally responded by rattling off eight consecutive points to turn a 14-8 deficit into a fifth-set victory to secure a 25-20, 25-17, 16-25, 21-25, 16-14 triumph.
“Just disbelief,” said senior outside hitter Delaney Miller after the dramatic rally. “I think I’m still in disbelief. That was a hard match to pull out, and I’m just so proud of everyone. I think that last point really showed how much we work for it and celebrate it with each other.”
Tatem Schmidt and Jaeden Pratt helped the Jaguars trade points with Northwest to open the set before the Wolves went on a big 8-1 run to take a 10-3 lead, forcing both Centennial timeouts in the process.
Northwest’s Leah Janulewicz managed to land an ace perfectly in the middle of all six Jaguars to put the Wolves up 14-8 and just one point away from securing the win.
The block for the Wolves’ potential match-winning point went right over Miller and fell just out of play. The Jaguars held onto hope as they shortened the lead to 14-9.
Miller stepped up to serve for Centennial and ultimately powered the 7-0 run to clinch the victory. She started right away with an ace before registering a kill on a big swing to make it 14-11.
“We’ve been talking a lot about positive talk in practice,” said Miller, who recorded her 100th career ace. “So I just really focused on what I was going to do technically and just saying that I believed in myself. Because we’ve had so many reps in serving, so I just told myself to pop-and-drop my serve, that I’ve done this numerous times, and I’m a great player and I can finish out this game.”
The Wolves hit the ball a little too long to make it a two-point game, which opened the door to two massive kills from Pratt and Sophia Heither to tie the set. Momentum continued to favor the Jaguars, who took their first lead of the set with another ball sent out by the Wolves.
And on the final point, Heither went up to block a big swing from Northwest’s Piper Ladwig, then Maegen Cheeseman aided Mya Lei-Butters, who set up Miller for what turned out to be the winning point as her swing deflected off a blocker and out of play.
Miller was just one of many heroes on the night for Centennial, which saw a couple of players provide big moments in the three sets the Jaguars won.
“We said that on this team, we’re going to have different heroes every match,” said Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart. “Different people are able to step up on occasion for us, which is a mark of a great team. The first game, our right side scored really well early on, then got shut down in games three and four and that was hard on us to not have the option to swing over there.”
Pratt and Schmidt shined in a first set that saw the Jaguars start off with an 8-2 deficit, tie the set at 16-16 and go on a 9-4 run to close it out. Heither had a trio of kills early in the second set, then Pratt and Finley Greiner added in a couple each before a stretch of hitting errors by the Wolves helped seal a 25-17 victory.
Miller’s 15 kills led the team, while Pratt and Schmidt followed with 14 and 10, respectively. Cheeseman dished out 24 assists. Miller, Pratt, Lei-Butters and Ellie Pollock were 100 percent on serve efficiency, along with Pratt’s team-high two aces.
Defensively, Miller and Cheeseman led the way with 18 and 15 digs. Mady Ott posted three blocks in the middle.
Despite the win, the Jaguars will be looking to improve on closing out sets when they have the lead.
Once the Wolves settled in more offensively and defensively, Centennial struggled to pull back ahead and that led to Northwest’s rally in the third and fourth sets.
“That rally was incredible and kudos to (Miller) for serving us all the way through that,” Rinehart said of the frantic finish. “That was the fun way to end. When we were up 2-0, I wanted us to just finish the thing and I do think something we need to get better at is just keeping the momentum and continuing to do the things we had to win two games.”
Regardless of a sweep or a big fifth-set comeback, a win in the home opener felt very good for the Jaguars, especially against the team that ended their season in the Class 5A semifinals last year. Northwest bested Centennial in five sets before ultimately beating Dowling Catholic to win the state championship.
Centennial improved to 5-2 on the season. The Jaguars will head to the Iowa City High Invitational on Saturday to face the likes of Regina Catholic, Lewis Central, Bettendorf and Iowa City High.