Jaeden Pratt and her Ankeny Centennial volleyball teammates left everything on the court.
The second-ranked Jaguars just came up a little bit short.
Centennial rallied from a two-set deficit before dropping a 25-21, 25-22, 16-25, 23-25, 18-16 decision to No. 6 Waukee Northwest in the Class 5A semifinals on Wednesday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
“I’m super proud of our team for the way we fought back at the end of that game,” said Pratt. “It sucks to lose in five sets going to extra points, but I’m proud of the way we battled back and did it together.”
The Jaguars (32-5) dug themselves out of a 4-0 hole in Set 5 and eventually took a 12-11 lead on the last of three consecutive points that were produced by Mady Ott. But that was their only lead of the set.
Northwest (28-9) later had a trio of match points, but each time Centennial responded with a kill–two by Delaney Miller and another by Pratt. Logan Vogt then smashed the last of her 17 kills to give the Wolves a 17-16 advantage.
The 2-hour, 8-minute match finally ended when defensive specialist Anna Pelds immediately returned a dig by the Jaguars’ Mya Lei-Butters, and Miller made a diving attempt for the save to no avail. It was Pelds’ only kill of the day.
“They ended up getting the last point, which hurts,” Pratt said. “But it was a great season overall for us.”
Centennial lost in the semifinals for the third consecutive year. The Jaguars also fell to Northwest in five sets in last year’s semifinals.
“It’s heartbreaking, but I’m super proud,” said Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart. “It looked bleak to start. We weren’t playing very well, but then they found something inside of themselves to fight all the way back. And then that last (set), of course, could have gone either way. I thought we were going to get it, but we didn’t.”
Defending champion Northwest had lost two of the three previous meetings against its CIML Conference rival, including a five-set match at Centennial on Sept. 3 when the Jaguars scored the last eight points to erase a 14-8 deficit in Set 5.
“You know, actually, I think that was the best thing that happened to us this season,” said Northwest coach Jodi Vogt, who earned her 100th career victory. “It gave us a little bit of an edge like, ‘You know, we’re not going to let that happen again.’ We’re going to come back and beat them, and we did. It was awesome.”
The Jaguars outhit Northwest by a .149 to .106 margin and scored 109 total points, two more than the Wolves. Miller and Pratt each pounded 21 kills in their final match.
“They’re monsters, and they play with a lot of heart and a lot of passion,” Rinehart said of the senior duo. “They’ve been the leaders for us and a part of our program for four years. It’s really, really sad that it’s over.”
Pratt also had eight blocks, while Ott contributed seven kills and six blocks. Sophia Heither added eight kills.
Setter Maegan Cheeseman dished out 50 assists. Lei-Butters racked up 31 digs, while Tatem Schmidt added 20 digs and a pair of aces.
Freshman Avery Cordes had 10 kills and six blocks for the Wolves, who also got 44 assists from Avery Vogt. Leah Janulewicz chipped in 31 digs and three aces.
Northwest’s Piper Ladwig added nine kills.
“I think that game (at Centennial) really motivated us throughout the whole entire season,” Ladwig said. “We just knew we should have won that game. It motivated us to stay on top and do better and just keep winning.”
The Wolves led most of the way in Set 1, but Centennial closed the gap to 22-21 on an ace by Ellie Pollock. Northwest then scored the next three points to close it out, capped off by a kill from Logan Vogt.
The second set followed a similar script as the Jaguars battled back from a 14-8 deficit. They eventually pulled within 24-22 on Miller’s kill from the back row, but Avery Vogt then dumped the ball for a kill to close it out.
“We tried some adjustments in the second set, and those didn’t work so we went back to our original lineup and what we do,” Rinehart said.
In Set 3, Centennial pulled away from a 14-13 lead and closed it out with an 11-3 run. Miller capped the flurry with three consecutive kills.
“We’ve had many 0-2 kind of scenarios this season,” Pratt said. “I knew we were never going to give up. We were going to keep striving for that next point, and I think that showed.”
It was Pratt’s turn to take over in Set 4. She had three kills and three blocks as the Jaguars jumped out to an 11-2 lead, then later had two more kills to halt a Northwest rally after the Wolves had closed the gap to 18-14.
After Northwest later pulled within 24-23, Miller smashed a kill to even the match.
“It was a good momentum change when we got ourselves rolling,” Pratt said.
There were seven ties and two lead changes in the deciding fifth set. The Wolves eventually prevailed.
“Every time we play Centennial it’s a dogfight. Every. Single. Time,” coach Vogt said. “We knew that’s what we were walking into today. I’m just proud of our girls for finishing. They did a great job.
“Before that fifth set, I told the girls, ‘You have nothing to lose. Every single point matters,’ and they just played their hearts out,” she added.
Northwest will play No. 1 Peasant Valley (34-2) for the Class 5A crown on Thursday at 10 a.m. The Spartans advanced with a sweep over No. 4 Dowling Catholic.
