(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
By no means is the Ankeny Centennial volleyball program charting unfamiliar territory.
But that doesn’t mean the feeling of winning a region championship and punching its ticket back to the Class 5A state tournament isn’t still one of the greatest feelings on the planet.
“Honestly, it’s one of the best feelings ever,” said Centennial outside hitter Jaeden Pratt. “Hopefully, we can better that feeling by Thursday (Nov. 7). We’re just praying for that.”
Second-ranked Centennial (31-4) is heading back to the state tournament after sweeping visiting Ottumwa, 25-12, 25-15, 25-10, in Tuesday’s regional final.
This marks the 11th time Centennial has advanced to state in the program’s 12-year history and the fifth consecutive season that the Jaguars have qualified.
Coming into the 2024 season ranked No. 3, the Jaguars had their sights set on making a run in the state tournament. It was just a matter of time before they got there.
And after grinding out an undefeated record in a stacked CIML Conference and holding a top ranking in the state for most of the regular season, the Jaguars saw an opening to make quick work of a solid Ottumwa squad (31-7) in the Region 1 championship.
“We kind of noticed (Ottumwa) has a shorter front row, and that’s kind of rare with the conference we have,” Pratt said. “So we knew we were going to have some open opportunities. We’ve been hammering out a ton in practice, so we can get it out there, just set it up and hit it.”
The match opened with a kill from Delaney Miller, and it ended on a kill from Pratt in the third set. In between those two kills, the standout senior duo wreaked havoc for the Jaguars.
Centennial finished with 45 kills as a team with Pratt and Miller combining for 29 of those. Pratt recorded a team-high 17 kills, and Miller chipped in 12.
Miller got the Jaguars out to a hot start by hammering four kills early in a first set that saw her team jump out to an 8-1 lead. Once Ottumwa’s attention shifted to Miller, Pratt and company came in to help build the lead.
Pratt tallied back-to-back kills with a block to give the Jaguars a 24-11 lead before Miller smashed her seventh kill of the set–this one from the back row–to close it out.
“They’re ridiculous,” Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart said of Miller and Pratt. “I can’t imagine there’s another duo in this state, on the outside, that can bring such power and skill. They’ve worked really hard and they’ve been four-year varsity players at Centennial. That’s very rare in our program. Each year they’ve built upon themselves, and now they’re finishing it out and they look phenomenal.”
The second set was Ottumwa’s best chance at stealing a set from the Jaguars after starting out with a 3-1 lead. But once Centennial took a 5-4 lead, the Bulldogs trailed the rest of the way.
The Jaguars later used a 9-3 run to build a 20-12 advantage. Miller then had back-to-back kills that set senior Finley Greiner up for back-to-back kills to close out the second set.
There was no worry about taking the foot off the gas pedal in the third set as Centennial opened with a 10-2 run while on the hunt for a sweep. The Jaguars eventually ended the match with an 8-1 run, capped off by Pratt’s 17th kill.
Greiner, Sophia Heither and Mady Ott each contributed four kills, and Tatem Schmidt added three. Maegen Cheeseman racked up 21 assists, while Schmidt dished out 11. Miller, Mya Lei-Butters and Ellie Pollock all tallied one ace.
Defensively, Pratt had a team-high two blocks and 12 digs. Miller had nine digs, Lei-Butters added eight, and Heither recorded one block.
“It felt good,” Rinehart said. “I thought we played pretty good on our side of the net. They definitely looked dialed in and ready to hopefully make it a long week at state.”
The Jaguars will face No. 7 Cedar Falls (33-6) in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Monday at Xtream Arena in Coralville. The match begins at 12:25 p.m. on Court Two.
Of the seven other teams in the Class 5A field, Cedar Falls is the only squad the Jaguars haven’t played this season. The Tigers advanced to the tournament with a sweep over No. 10 Iowa City Liberty in the Region 7 championship.
Centennial could potentially meet No. 3 Ankeny (36-4) in the semifinals.
“We’re going to have to play three great games down there in order to win,” Rinehart said. “We’re going to have to be mentally tough, we’re going to have to play for each other the entire way through and support each other. We’re certainly capable, and we’ve seen it throughout this season. There’s moments where it’s like, ‘Yeah, this team can do it.’”
