(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
If there was one thing to learn from Tuesday night, it’d be to never underestimate the Ankeny volleyball team.
The ninth-ranked Hawkettes returned to their home court and proceeded to cruise to a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-14, 15-16) over No. 7 Valley in the CIML Conference opener for both teams.
“It’s awesome to get the first win at home,” said senior setter Miya Steinkamp. “We never have a night off in the CIML, so it was really good to get a 3-0 sweep. We worked well as a team, we had good energy and got it done quickly.”
While preseason rankings can only be taken with a grain of salt since things are bound to drastically change over the course of the season, Ankeny has used its preliminary ranking to help fuel the fire to its early start to the season.
The Hawkettes came off a season where they were guided to a 36-5 overall record and a Class 5A state tournament appearance by an outstanding class of seniors.
With the departure of that group, the hype for the Hawkettes entering the season diminished a little with plenty of holes needing to be filled in the lineup.
Ankeny was able to get inside the top 10 in the Class 5A preseason rankings at No. 9 with the CIML holding six of the top 10 spots, which includes Waukee Northwest, Waukee, Ankeny Centennial and Dowling Catholic all inside the top five.
“I think they’ve had a chip on their shoulders about (the preseason ranking),” said Ankeny coach Liz Baethke. “Yes, we graduated a talented group of seniors last year, but we had a pretty nice set of kids coming back and that nucleus was strong.”
What the preseason rankings weren’t able to foresee was just how quickly the Hawkettes have been able to fill those holes in the lineup with plenty of talent as they prove their place as a top team in 5A volleyball.
Ankeny saw glimpses of how good it could be when it bested Class 2A No. 6 Dike-New Hartford in the Hawkettes’ quadrangular a week ago.
Then came the Centennial Invitational on Saturday where the Hawkettes swept No. 3 Waukee and Class 3A No. 3 Davenport Assumption. Their only two early losses of the season have come against No. 1 Waukee Northwest and No. 4 Centennial.
“I think we like being the underdog a little bit,” Steinkamp said. “It gives us a lot of motivation and we don’t think we’re the best, so we work for every match and every point.”
Now they’ve added another statement victory to their season with their home sweep against a Valley team that returned plenty of key starters from a year ago.
Ankeny was able to handle business right from the start.
Thanks to a couple of hitting errors and a collection of kills from Hailey Wiederin, Marlee Ellison, Raquel Risk and Teagan Moyer, the Hawkettes took a massive 13-2 lead to open up the first set.
The closest that the Tigers could get was 13-7 before Ankeny went on to clinch the set, 25-13, behind back-to-back kills from Ellison for the final points.
“I was really excited about their energy,” Baethke said. “It feels like every time we step on the court, we are making small, but important changes to grow. Their focus was one point, especially for the first home dual that has a different vibe to it.”
Valley managed to rally back from a 5-1 deficit early in the second set and played a couple of close points before the Hawkettes pulled away.
Ankeny very briefly trailed, 11-10, before a kill from Wiederin opened up the floodgates to an 11-0 run that put things well out of reach for Valley. The Hawkettes ended up clinching the set, 25-14, to threaten the potential sweep.
The third set was the only one where Ankeny didn’t start off with the lead, but the Hawkettes also didn’t trail for very long.
“It’s been awesome,” Steinkamp said. “A lot of girls have stepped up in different ways. Hailey (Wiederin) has been playing great, carrying a heavy load as a sophomore, but not playing like one. So has Elle (Isaacson) and Marlee (Ellison).”
Quinn Roush tallied back-to-back kills to get the wheels turning in the set as Ankeny got some big swings from Risk, Moyer, Isaacson and senior Maliya Cobb to power them throughout the set.
Valley managed to stay alive for a couple of points on match point before sending a serve too long to let Ankeny take the set, 25-16, and complete the sweep. The Hawkettes are now 7-2 overall, while the Tigers dropped to 6-4.
The Hawkettes will now gear up to face some more competition from around the state with the Shirley Ryan Invitational being hosted by Class 3A No. 8 Mount Vernon on Saturday. Then they’re right back at home a few nights later for a rematch with Waukee.
“We’ll see some teams we don’t get to see in those corners of the state so that’s pretty cool ,” Baethke said. “It gets us to gauge our competition state-wide. Then we come back Tuesday and can hopefully stick it to Waukee again.”
