Eagles sweep Sigourney, will play SE Warren for another trip to 1A state tourney

Ankeny Christian Academy’s Carley Craighead (No. 1) and Anna Weathers (No. 21) celebrate with their teammates after the Eagles won a point during Monday’s match against visiting Sigourney. ACA rolled to a **25-8, 25-15, 25-9 victory in a Class 1A regional semifinal. (Photo by Jerrad Downer)**

It’s hard to prepare for the aggressiveness of Ankeny Christian Academy’s serves.

Just ask the Sigourney volleyball players.

The top-ranked Eagles pounded 20 more aces and rolled to a 25-8, 25-15, 25-9 victory over visiting Sigourney in a Class 1A regional semifinal on Monday.

“Our serving was solid again,” said ACA coach Michele Quick, whose team had 23 aces in a quarterfinal win over Melcher-Dallas on Wednesday. “I don’t think Sigourney had faced any teams that serve as aggressively as we do.”

**Ankeny Christian Academy’s Macey Nehring digs up a ball during Monday’s match. She had six digs in the Eagles’ win. (Photo by Jerrad Downer)**

ACA (36-5) continues to lead the state with 469 aces, 144 more than North Tama. The two-time defending state champion Eagles also led the state in aces in 2022 (441) and 2023 (534).

Katie Quick led the way on Monday, completing all 22 of her serves and recording eight aces. Anna Weathers added five aces.

Quick and Weathers rank 1-2 in the state with 112 and 94 aces, respectively.

“We studied film and knew their receive setup was going to give us opportunities,” said coach Quick.

**Ankeny Christian Academy’s Carley Craighead spikes the ball over the net during Monday’s match. She led the Eagles with 14 kills. (Photo by Jerrad Downer)**

The Eagles smashed 40 kills and hit .465 on the night. Sigourney finished the season with a 17-6 record.

Carley Craighead racked up 14 kills and had ACA’s lone block. Quick contributed eight kills, 29 assists and five digs.

Macey Nehring finished with seven kills and six digs. Weathers had six kills, and Morgan Fincham chipped in four.

“Our offense was solid,” coach Quick said. “Our five seniors were hitting a wide variety of shots and running fast tempo. With all of our girls hitting aggressively, we kept Sigourney guessing for sure.”

**Ankeny Christian Academy’s Breeze Bentz and Anna Weathers try for a block as Sigourney’s McKinley Chittick hits the ball over the net during Monday’s match. (Photo by Jerrad Downer)**

It was the final home match for the ACA seniors. A large crowd showed up to support the Eagles–and many of the fans wore pink colors to match the team’s uniforms.

“We had an awesome crowd there to support us, which was great to see our ACA community and friends coming out to cheer on the team,” coach Quick said.

The Eagles advanced to Wednesday’s regional final against Southeast Warren. The match will be played at Carlisle at 7 p.m.

The Warhawks (27-19) posted a 25-22, 25-18, 25-7 win at Mormon Trail on Monday. It was just the third loss of the season for the Saints, whose previous two losses came to ACA.

“We have already started to review film and start planning our practice Tuesday around what we need to clean up and where we see opportunities in their defense and serve receive,” coach Quick said.