The Waukee volleyball team committed nine serving errors during Tuesday’s match against visiting Ankeny.
On most nights, it would be tough to overcome that many “free” points for your opponent.
But ninth-ranked Waukee played so well in every other aspect of the game that it didn’t matter. The Warriors avenged Saturday’s loss to No. 4 Ankeny at the Marj White Classic with a 29-27, 25-19, 25-16 victory.
“We saw it at the Ankeny Centennial tournament (on Aug. 31) when they played Centennial–they can turn it on,” Ankeny coach Liz Baethke said of the Warriors. “They’re very streaky. We even talked about that with our game plan. I’m not sure we quite expected that, because they didn’t make many errors. They were getting balls that I thought were 100 percent down. They just scrapped and wanted it more.”
Waukee outhit Ankeny by a .346 to .162 margin while improving to 2-0 in the CIML Conference and 5-6 overall. The loss ended a six-match winning streak for the Hawkettes, whose records dropped to 1-1 and 13-2.
Sophomore Malia Rogers led the way for Waukee with 18 kills. Her final kill closed out the match.
“She’s a very talented hitter,” Ankeny senior Reagan Hanfelt said on the Ankeny Fanatic weekly podcast.
Hanfelt had nine kills to lead the Hawkettes. Olivia Eike chipped in eight, Kamryn Scheib had seven, and Maya Ridgeway added six.
Ankeny played without senior middle hitter Carly Olson, who is battling a calf injury.
“I watched Carly warm up, and I realized that this was probably not a good decision (to have her play),” Baethke said. “I hate not being 100 percent for a conference match, but I’ve learned from last year what’s more important is what is down the line.”
The Hawkettes got off to a good start, though, and led most of the way in Set 1. After Waukee rallied to take a 21-19 lead, Ankeny answered with three straight points–capped off by an ace from Miya Steinkamp–to regain a 22-21 advantage.
Ankeny later took a 25-24 lead on a kill by Hanfelt, but Waukee then forced a sideout to prolong the set. The Warriors eventually closed out the set on back-to-back kills by Maggie Craig.
“They’re a very good team,” Hanfelt said. “They adjusted really well to whatever we had working (at the Valley tournament). I think their scouting report was really good.”
After Waukee won the second set, the Warriors jumped out to a 7-1 lead in Set 3. Ankeny later closed the gap to 18-14 before Rogers pounded back-to-back kills to halt the rally, igniting a 7-2 run to close out the match.
“That’s probably the best I’ve seen her play,” Baethke said of Rogers.
Craig added 11 kills for Waukee, while setter Liv Davis dished out 40 assists. Freshman Allie Ruddy racked up 15 digs.
Baileigh Carlsen had 23 digs for the Hawkettes, who got 14 assists from Steinkamp and 11 more from Gracyn Adams. Hanfelt and Steinkamp each had a pair of aces.
Ankeny will compete in the Caroline Found Invitational on Saturday at Iowa City West.