(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
When it gets late in the season, the Ankeny Centennial volleyball team isn’t going to overlook any opponent.
Especially not a CIML Conference foe on the road.
The second-ranked Jaguars traveled to Johnston on Tuesday and swept the Dragons in three sets, 25-16, 25-16, 25-14, to remain in third place in the league standings.
“I was really happy that we just took care of what we needed to,” said Centennial coach Jessica RInehart. “Also our goal is to be playing really well in this last stretch of our season going into the postseason. This wasn’t one that we wanted to mess around with. We wanted to play good ball on our side, and I thought we accomplished those things.”
In a loaded conference where six of the nine teams all rank among the top seven squads in Class 5A, a few teams will be forced to stick around the bottom of the standings and the Dragons are one of those teams.
Despite a 1-6 league record, Johnston hovered around the .500 mark overall and played plenty of competitive sets going into Tuesday’s match that made sure the Jaguars wouldn’t overlook their matchup with the postseason around the corner.
The Dragons previously took a set against Ankeny–which is responsible for one of Centennial’s five losses–and were also competitive in matches against Waukee and Valley.
“I do think Johnston is a good team, and I told our team that,” Rinehart said. “I watched them play Ankeny online, and their record isn’t indicative of the kind of team they are. They’re very solid, so I thought we put together a good match against a solid team.”
Centennial didn’t have many issues controlling each of the three sets it played on Tuesday as the Dragons only held a brief lead on three occasions. The largest deficit the Jaguars had to overcome was three points in the third set, which they wiped away with a 3-0 run.
Each of the three sets started close before the Jaguars went on runs that gave them all the separation they needed to close out them out.
Leading 8-7 in the first set, Centennial used a 4-0 run that began with a Johnston service error to build a little bit of a cushion.
The Jaguars went on a 5-1 run late in the set to make it 19-13 before they ultimately closed out the set with a 6-1 run behind an ace from Nora Bockes and a pair of kills from Adilyne Reyes and Maegan Cheeseman.
“Our serving was solid tonight,” Rinehart said. “We got their passers out of system a lot, and that always helps create gaps. Defensively, we touched a lot of balls and our block did a nice job taking care of things at the net.”
With the second set tied at 7-7, Cheeseman and Sophia Heither helped get the Jaguars’ lead up to four points before a 6-0 run late in the set gave them a commanding 20-11 lead. They ended the set on a 5-3 run.
The third set is where the Dragons had the best chance as Centennial fell behind 3-0 early on. After Johnston regained a 5-3 advantage, the Jaguars answered with a 3-0 run.
Tatem Schmidt tied it with one of her eight kills on the night, and a block by Mady Ott pushed the Jaguars ahead.
Centennial closed out the sweep in strong fashion by outscoring the Dragons 10-2, which included a 4-0 run behind a kill and an ace from Schmidt, a kill from Sidney Rogers and a hitting error to clinch the set and the sweep.
“I thought we played some good ball,” Rinehart said. “I thought we were clean on our side, I thought we ran a really good balanced offense, we had a lot of hitters up and swinging, and I was really pleased with what we did on our side of the net tonight.”
The Jaguars had eight different hitters record a kill in the win with Ellie Pollock leading the way with 12, while Cheeseman (18) and Schmidt (14) combined for 32 assists. Ott recorded four blocks, while Pollock and Mya Lei-Butters added 13 digs apiece.
Schmidt added a pair of aces for Centennial, which improved to 5-2 in the conference and 23-5 overall. The Dragons are now 13-16 on the season.
The Jaguars will head to Cedar Rapids Jefferson on Saturday for the Westside Invitational, which will feature plenty of ranked opponents. They will then close out the regular season on Oct. 14 with a conference match at Southeast Polk.
“There are little things here and there (to work on) that we break down and talk about daily,” Rinehart said as her team gears up for postseason play. “But I think serving tough, blocking and playing defense is the way we have success. If we can increase all of those things going into the homestretch, I feel really good about what we can do.”
