The Ankeny volleyball team got off to a fast start in each of the first four sets against visiting Waukee on Tuesday.
In the decisive fifth set, the fourth-ranked Warriors finally got off to a fast start of their own.
Waukee jumped out to an 8-2 lead, held off a rally by No. 3 Ankeny, and eventually scored the last six points to close out a 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 18-25, 15-7 victory.
“I think we’re pretty evenly matched,” said Ankeny coach Liz Baethke. “Dropping this one is ok, considering what could be down the line. I’m sure we’ll see them again.”
Waukee avenged a loss to the Hawkettes in the quarterfinals of the Ankeny Centennial Early Bird Invitational on Aug. 30. The Warriors improved to 2-0 in the CIML Conference and 8-2 overall, while Ankeny’s records dropped to 1-1 and 11-4.
“I’m a little bit disappointed just because I thought we had the game plan down,” Baethke said. “We learned from last year (in a 3-0 loss at Waukee). I don’t always feel like we see the real Waukee on Saturdays, and they come to play on Tuesday nights for sure. We knew we needed to prepare for something a little different, more intensity from them and less mistakes…better ball control. They absolutely did what we thought, and we knew how to counter that.”
In the end, the Hawkettes simply made too many mistakes. They hit just .080 for the match and served at 86.5 percent, misfiring on 13 of their 96 attempts.
“We were trying to be really aggressive (with our serves), but we need to clean up those service errors,” said Ankeny junior Marlee Ellison, who had three of the team’s 10 aces and also led the Hawkettes with 12 kills.
After Ankeny dominated the fourth set to tie the match, Quinn Roush pounded one of her six kills for the Hawkettes on the opening point of Set 5. But Waukee then answered with an 8-1 run, capped off by a kill from Maggie Craig.
“They do score in huge runs,” Baethke said of the Warriors. “We talked about that too with our scouting report. That was one of our points of emphasis, limiting those big runs.”
Ankeny closed the gap to 8-5 on an ace by Gwyn Christensen and later pulled to within 9-7 on a kill by Elle Isaacson. But Waukee responded with a kill by Malia Rogers to stop the run, and the Hawkettes never scored again.
“I think in the fifth set we needed to turn it around sooner and start going on more runs,” Ellison said. “We kind of had a few rollercoasters, and we just needed to get back into it super fast and get those first-ball kills.”
The two teams alternated wins in the first four sets. Waukee erased a 20-19 deficit in the first set with a 6-1 run, closing out the set on a kill by Stella Braddock.
The Hawkettes jumped out to a 6-0 lead in Set 2 and later extended the advantage to 14-4 on an ace by Ellison. The Warriors closed the gap to 23-19 before Ankeny scored the next two points to even the match.
“We put it all on the court,” Ellison said. “We had a game plan, but Waukee is just really good. They’re super fun to compete with, and we put everything out there.”
Another ace by Ellison gave the Hawkettes an 11-10 lead in Set 3, but Waukee then answered with a 10-4 run, capped off by a kill from Rogers. The Warriors eventually closed out the set before Ankeny led wire-to-wire in Set 4 to tie the match, getting a pair of aces from Madi Anselme along the way.
“We did make some adjustments, but we didn’t stick with the things that started working,” Baethke said. “It’s unfortunate, but we’re young and we’re still navigating through the process of how to be in a tougher mindset, especially in those pressure situations. I think it’s a work in progress.”
Raquel Risk had nine kills in the loss. Isaacson chipped in eight, while Hailey Wiederin added seven kills and a pair of blocks.
Miya Steinkamp dished out 21 assists and also had 17 digs. Christensen added 17 assists.
Roush had five of the team’s nine blocks. Hailey Flanders racked up 32 digs, and Anselme completed 24-of-26 serves.
“We just let the pressure get to us a little bit,” Baethke said. “But that’s ok. Every experience like that is just going to make us better in the end.”
Ankeny will compete in the Caroline Found Invitational on Saturday at Iowa City West.
