(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
The Eagles are soaring back to Coralville with a chance to make history.
Two-time reigning Class 1A state volleyball champion Ankeny Christian Academy has its sights set on a threepeat, and the top-ranked Eagles are one step closer to that goal after sweeping Southeast Warren, 25-15, 25-14, 25-11, in the Region 1 championship on Wednesday at Carlisle.
“It’s such a great feeling every year and to get it again this year is just so amazing,” said senior setter Katie Quick. “It’s kind of a relief. We got to state.”
“It is a surreal feeling,” added senior outside hitter Macey Nehring. “We knew we could do it, and we’re capable of it. But actually fully finishing it, knowing we are going (to state) and taking it all in, is an amazing feeling to have.”
Southeast Warren is a team that ACA hasn’t seen since playing the Warhawks in their tournament early last season. Yet, the underdogs came out ready to challenge the Eagles with a trip to the state tournament on the line.
Early in the first two sets, Southeast Warren hung right with the Eagles. It wasn’t until ACA found some small runs that led to a snowball effect.
The Eagles (37-5) took a 6-5 lead in the first set off an Anna Weathers kill, and the senior capped off a 4-1 run with another kill forcing the Warhawks’ first timeout. ACA proceeded to go on a 5-0 run out of the timeout for a nine-point lead.
Some struggles to keep the ball in play allowed Southeast Warren to cut the lead down to as little as four points before Nehring tallied five kills in the final seven points needed for ACA to clinch the set.
“The last couple of years, I think (Macey’s) nickname was ‘Firecracker’ because when she needs to turn it on and come through, she does it,” said ACA coach Michele Quick. “She has more determination than anybody. She’s undersized, but that’s never stopped her and she was almost begging for them to triple block her in the middle because she knew she could go through them.”
Nehring played a major factor in the team’s offense, finishing with 15 of ACA’s 42 total kills. She also contributed eight digs and three aces.
In the second set, an ace from Katie Quick gave the Eagles a 9-8 lead and sparked a 4-0 run to give them a bit of separation going into a Southeast Warren timeout.
Fueled by kills from Weathers, Carley Craighead and Morgan Fincham, along with another ace from Quick and some miscues on the Warhawks’ side of the net, the Eagles rattled off an 8-4 run to take a 20-12 lead late in the set.
Fincham eventually gave ACA a two-set lead by pounding her second kill of the night.
“I think they shocked us with how scrappy they were,” said Katie Quick. “They got up a lot of balls we were hitting pretty hard. I think we did a good job at just staying calm under pressure and just kept going at them.”
And after starting out the third set tied at 5-5, the Eagles cruised to the sweep by going on a 13-2 run that buried any comeback hopes for the Warhawks (27-20). Nehring ended the match by pounding four straight kills in the final five points to send ACA back to the state tournament.
Craighead gave the Warhawks just as much trouble, finishing with 12 kills. Weathers and Quick each had six kills, while Fincham added three.
Weathers racked up a team-high nine digs. Quick tallied six aces and now leads the state with 118 on the season.
“Our motto this year is ‘All In,’” said coach Quick. “All In is for each other, it’s for the Lord, it’s for the team. We just try to take deep breaths and remember that we’re playing a game we already know how to play.”
Top-seeded ACA will face No. 8 Don Bosco (20-15) in the Class 1A quarterfinals on Tuesday at 6 p.m. It’s the first meeting between the two teams since 2022, when the Eagles swept Don Bosco in the same round en route to their first title.
The winner will play either No. 4 Riverside (38-3) or No. 5 North Tama (25-15) in Wednesday’s semifinals. No. 3 Holy Trinity Catholic (29-12), last year’s runner-up, is on the opposite side of the bracket.
The championship match will be played on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“I think the main thing we focus on is just staying humble,” Nehring said. “Even winning it all the past two years was amazing, but any team can shock, just like how we shocked a lot of teams the last two years. We’re just keeping that calmness knowing any team can do anything and just being prepared for whatever comes our way.”
