After losing to its crosstown rival five days earlier, the Ankeny volleyball team couldn’t afford another loss.
The third-ranked Hawkettes responded with one of their biggest wins of the season.
Ankeny moved into a third-place tie with No. 4 Dowling Catholic in the CIML Conference by posting a 25-23, 21-25, 25-16, 25-20 victory over the visiting Maroons on Tuesday. Both teams are now 4-2 in league play.
“We needed that really bad,” said Ankeny libero Baileigh Carlsen. “We just wanted to fight until the end because we knew if we lost that game we would be on a downward slope the whole rest of the season, and we couldn’t do that. We needed to win to get back up to our normal selves.”
It was the third meeting this season between the two teams. The Hawkettes (26-4 overall) defeated Dowling in the Marj White Classic on Sept. 7 at Valley, but the Maroons (19-7) avenged the loss a week later in the championship match of the Live Like Line Invitational at Iowa City West.
“I really felt like we needed to do things differently,” said Ankeny coach Liz Baethke, whose team hit .230 on the night. “It seems like we’re a really good Saturday team, but we weren’t approaching the Tuesday night matches the same way mentally. And I love that our conference (schedule) provides that type of challenge, where everyone is competing for every point. It definitely gets us ready for that (postseason) scenario.”
Ankeny played without senior middle hitter Carly Olson, who was out with an illness. Sophomore Raquel Risk helped pick up the slack, recording three of the team’s 13 blocks.
“I think Raquel has really been doing a good job of progressing,” Baethke said. “We kind of started training her in the middle, and she’s more of a pin (hitter). I think that just showed how versatile she is.”
Dowling also faced some adversity. The Maroons lost senior outside hitter Siri Beecher to an injury late in the second set, and Ankeny went on to win the next two sets.
“(Beecher) wasn’t there for the Iowa City West tournament either, and they beat us there,” Carlsen said. “So I feel like they’re just a good team in general. Siri was a big help to them, but either way I feel like we could have won.”
Beecher limped off the court with Dowling ahead, 23-20, in Set 2. The Maroons then won two of the next three points to even the match, closing out the set on a kill by Ellie Muller.
Ankeny then got a kill from Maya Ridgeway to break a 4-4 tie in Set 3, igniting an 11-3 run that gave the Hawkettes a 15-7 advantage. Reagan Hanfelt had back-to-back kills during the run.
“I think most of our changes were based off of our attitude,” said Ridgeway, who finished with 10 kills. “We came into it a lot more positive. We figured out how to play for each other and not just play to win.”
Ankeny eventually scored the last five points to close out the set. Hanfelt finished it off with a tip that resulted in a kill.
The Hawkettes never trailed in Set 4. Olivia Eike put them ahead for good with back-to-back kills that broke a 7-7 tie.
Eike later had two more kills to extend the lead to 20-14. She then followed with two more to help close out the match, which ended on another kill by Hanfelt.
“Carly was sick, so we had to switch it up with one of our sophomores,” Carlsen said of Risk. “But I thought she really stepped it up. Other than that, we worked on some more runs and being more confident so I think that was the change that we made.”
Baethke credited her team’s defensive effort for the win.
“We are really focusing on defense, whether it’s sealing the net with the block or just making sure that we’re funneling it right to our defensive kids,” she said. “Baileigh did a good job of sitting outside, and our block was channeling that ball right to her. We handled the pressure well, and we made plays when we needed to.”
Ankeny took an early 8-5 lead in Set 1 on a kill by Ridgeway, but the Maroons battled back and moved ahead, 13-11, on consecutive aces by Kaylie Klein. But the Hawkettes later used a 4-0 run to erase an 18-17 deficit and eventually closed out the set on another kill by Ridgeway.
“This is really big,” Ridgeway said of the win. “I think we just needed it mentally to show what it means to work as a team more.”
Eike led Ankeny with 15 kills and a .433 hitting percentage. Hanfelt had nine kills and three blocks, while Kamryn Scheib added nine kills and 18 digs.
Miya Steinkamp dished out 27 assists for the Hawkettes. Gracyn Adams chipped in 17.
Carlsen racked up 21 digs and also had three aces. She completed all 24 of her serves.
Ankeny will compete in the Waverly-Shell Rock Invitational on Saturday.
