The players on the Ankeny volleyball team aren’t just teammates.
They’re also best friends–and perhaps that’s a big part of their success.
The third-ranked Hawkettes advanced to the state tournament for the seventh consecutive year by sweeping No. 11 Iowa City High, 25-15, 25-10, 27-25, in a Class 5A regional final on Tuesday at Ankeny.
“We’re all best friends–on and off the court,” said senior middle hitter Reagan Hanfelt, who racked up a team-high 13 kills. “It’s just really special. You never really get a team where every single person gets along, so I think this is really cool.”
Ankeny (36-4) extended its winning streak to 11 matches with a dominant performance. Iowa City High (17-13) never held a lead until the third set, which featured six lead changes and 16 ties.
“I knew that even if that set got away from us, we’d be able to get the next one,” said Ankeny libero Baileigh Carlsen, who had four of the Hawkettes’ eight aces. “I knew we’d be able to finish on top.”
Olivia Eike helped the Hawkettes complete the sweep. She recorded back-to-back blocks to forge an 18-18 tie in Set 3, then followed with consecutive kills shortly thereafter to give Ankeny a 21-20 lead.
“We were really just thinking, ‘We couldn’t go into a fourth (set),'” said Eike, who finished with seven kills and three blocks. “That was kind of the mindset the whole set.”
A pair of kills by Maya Ridgeway put Ankeny on the brink of victory, but the Little Hawks survived two match points. A kill by Eike gave the Hawkettes a 26-25 lead, then Kamryn Scheib followed with her 11th kill of the night to close out the match.
“I felt like we had it,” said Scheib, who also contributed 12 digs. “Some sets aren’t the best, but I knew we were going to pull through.”
Ankeny had little trouble in the first two sets. The Hawkettes jumped out to a 10-3 lead in Set 1 and eventually closed it out with a 7-2 run, capped off by a kill from Ridgeway.
Ankeny used a 5-0 run in Set 2 to build a 12-4 lead. Ridgeway started the run with a kill, and Miya Steinkamp served an ace to finish it off.
Raquel Risk later pounded a kill to ignite an 8-0 run that extended the margin to 22-7. Carlsen served the last seven points and had three aces in the run.
“In practice we’ve been working a lot on hitting specific spots with our serves, just aiming for a little spot,” Carlsen said. “So I feel like practice prepared me for that moment.”
Hanfelt followed with a pair of kills to set up the set point, which came when the Little Hawks were unable to return Scheib’s serve.
“Their middles were pretty good,” Hanfelt said of the Little Hawks. “Emmy McComas, I’ve played around her before. She’s very crafty and very good. We were just trying to use our strengths against them.”
Ridgeway and Risk each had seven kills, while Marlee Ellison added five. Risk also had four blocks.
The Hawkettes hit .354 overall, led by Risk (.750) and Hanfelt (.684). Steinkamp dished out 24 assists, and Gracyn Adams had 21.
“The key was definitely our passing,” Scheib said. “We knew they had good serves and good passing as well, so we needed to pass well to execute (our offense).”
Ilana Coleman recorded a team-high 15 digs in the win. She also completed all 15 of her serves.
Ankeny will play No. 6 Waukee Northwest (26-9), the defending champion, in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Monday at Coralville. The match will begin at about 2:25 p.m. on Court Two at Xtream Arena.
The Hawkettes won all three meetings against Northwest during the regular season, including a five-set match on Oct. 8.
“It’s really exciting because I feel like the last two years that we’ve gone, our run was cut short,” Carlsen said. “I’m really excited to see what this team can do.”
Ankeny was upset by Valley in the quarterfinals in 2022. Last year, the Hawkettes lost again in the quarterfinals–this time to Ankeny Centennial in a five-set match.
The No. 2 Jaguars (31-4) were the last team to beat Ankeny on Sept. 26. The two teams could meet again in Wednesday’s semifinals.
“They’re a very good team and they’ll push our limits, but I’d really like to see them,” Hanfelt said.
The rest of the Hawkettes would like a rematch, too.
“I feel like that would be the most crazy match ever,” Carlsen said.
