It was a “Jagalicious” kind of night at the Ankeny Centennial gym.
The second-ranked Centennial volleyball team got three or more kills from six different players and swept to a 25-14, 28-26, 25-20 victory over No. 8 Dowling Catholic in a CIML Conference match on Tuesday.
“We always talk about being ‘Jagalicious’–that’s our little phrase that we say–and we came out and were ready and we were bombs away,” said Centennial senior Tatem Schmidt. “We were hitting from every position, and it was really good. We played well.”
The Jaguars defeated Dowling for the second time this season. They outlasted the Maroons in three sets in the quarterfinals of the Centennial Early Bird Invitational on Aug. 30.
“It felt great to get the sweep,” said Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart. “I don’t think we did anything different (than last time), but we had time to watch video and make a plan, which was helpful. In our first tournament, we didn’t have that opportunity. I thought we did a really good job from (points) 20 to 25 of playing clean, locking in and doing our jobs well. In those moments, that helped us get it done in three.”
Schmidt and Mady Ott each had 10 kills to lead the Jaguars. Ellie Pollock chipped in six, Maegan Cheeseman and Sidney Rogers each had four, and Bailey Snyder added three.
Ott and Rogers also had four blocks apiece as the duo continued to share playing time at middle hitter, where Centennial is without injured junior Sophia Heither.
“We’re just trying to keep the same energy that Sophie brings to the court,” said Ott. “It’s not the same, but we’re trying.”
Ott and Rogers helped limit the effectiveness of Dowling’s 6-foot-3 Ellie Muller, who entered the match with a .308 hitting percentage.
“Of course we miss (Heither), but the beauty of this team is that we have depth and we have people ready to go in every position should we need them,” Rinehart said. “I’m proud of Sid and Mady for stepping in and doing their job, but I’m not surprised. I knew they were ready to fulfill their roles, too.”
Centennial jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never trailed in Set 1. The Jaguars eventually closed out the set on a Dowling hitting error.
“I think since we’ve seen them so much, we kind of knew what to expect,” Ott said. “We just made sure we executed every point.”
The Maroons led most of the way in Set 2 before Centennial went on a 10-2 run to take a 23-19 lead. Rogers and Ott each had a block during the run.
“I’m so proud of both of them,” Schmidt said. “They’ve stepped up into bigger roles than what they’re used to, and they have done so well and they are just going to continue getting better and better.”
Dowling answered, though, with four straight points to tie it up at 23-23. The Maroons then twice had a set point following kills by Muller, but Centennial responded each time and eventually scored the last three points to close out the set.
“They’re tall–they are big. And we knew that,” Rinehart said of the Maroons. “But we just said we’re going to keep rallies alive longer with our defense, so swing away hitters and we’ll give you good coverage and out-scrap them.”
There were numerous ties in Set 3 before Dowling took a 19-17 lead. But the Jaguars then answered with an 8-1 run and closed out the match on an ace by Kaelyn Rinehart.
Schmidt had three consecutive kills during the run.
“I like to say just see ball, pass ball, see ball, set ball and it’s kind of cool how it just simplifies the game, and we played really clean with it,” Schmidt said. “We made the easy things easy the whole game, and it helped a lot.”
The win allowed Centennial (16-3 overall) to move into a third-place tie with Dowling (9-7) and No. 4 Ankeny in the conference. All three teams are now 2-1 in league play behind No. 1 Waukee Northwest (4-0) and No. 3 Waukee (3-0).
Cheeseman racked up 18 assists, four blocks and 13 digs for the Jaguars. Schmidt added 15 assists and hit .296 on the night for a team that finished with a .191 efficiency.
Libero Mya Lei-Butters led Centennial with 19 digs. She also completed all 16 of her serves and had three aces.
Rinehart contributed 10 digs, completed all 12 of her serves and had a pair of aces. The Jaguars served at 96.1 percent as a team (74-of-77).
Centennial will host another conference match against No. 10 Valley on Thursday. The Tigers are 1-3 in the league and 14-9 overall after being swept by Waukee Northwest on Tuesday.
The Jaguars won an earlier meeting, 21-10, 21-12, during pool play at the Centennial tournament.
