Ankeny Christian Academy’s volleyball dominance in Class 1A has come to an end.
The seventh-ranked Eagles were denied a fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament on Wednesday at Nevada, where they dropped a 25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16 decision to No. 6 BCLUW in a Class 1A regional final. The Comets (36-8) ended ACA’s three-year reign as state champions.
It was the first postseason loss for the Eagles (28-14) since they fell to Gladbrook-Reinbeck in a regional final in 2021 at Marshalltown.
“There was a lot of doubt going into the season, wondering what we had left,” said ACA coach Michele Quick. “But I knew we had a lot in our arsenal. I just told the girls in the locker room, ‘Be proud. Be so proud of getting here to substate.’ We had 28 wins on the season against a really tough schedule. They came out and proved to a lot of people who they were and what they were made of.”
The loss ended ACA’s seven-match winning streak and allowed the Comets to earn some revenge. BCLUW had lost to the Eagles in last year’s Class 1A championship match and in the semifinals in 2023.
The two teams had split a pair of matches at the Dunkerton tournament on Sept. 27, but both ACA and BCLUW looked like different squads on Wednesday.
“They definitely changed,” Quick said of the Comets. “They were using much more of their offense in the front row–they weren’t as reliant on just two people. And they definitely changed their defense as well. They moved their defense to a rotational defense versus perimeter, which is different. It didn’t shock us when we saw it–we were able to adjust to it a little bit. We just weren’t hitting the ball hard enough.”
The Comets outhit ACA by a .207 to .157 margin. Olivia Peters led BCLUW with 20 kills, while Grace Farnsworth added 15.
Freshman Havanna Dolbeare had 19 of the Eagles’ 41 kills and hit .318 on the night. But ACA was unable to overcome 21 hitting errors.
“They just came with a little bit stronger arsenal,” Quick said. “We battled the best that we could, and we just couldn’t quite get over the hump.”
BCLUW used a 6-0 run in the first set to erase a 7-5 deficit and never trailed again. The Comets eventually closed out the set on a kill by Peters.
Dolbeare provided a spark for ACA in Set 2. She had back-to-back kills to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead, then later had another one to break a 5-5 tie as ACA forced a sideout.
Dolbeare then moved behind the service line and served the next six points as the Eagles extended the margin to 12-5. She completed 18-of-19 serves in the match.
BCLUW closed to within two points on two occasions before Breeze Bentz pounded a kill to give ACA a 22-19 advantage. The Comets then answered with five straight points, capped off by an ace from Brinna Benson, to take a 24-22 lead.
After a kill by Katelyn Weathers cut the deficit to 24-23, BCLUW then closed out the set on a net violation by the Eagles.
ACA used a 13-2 run to build a 21-14 lead in Set 3. Bentz later had a pair of kills to make it 24-17, but the Comets then scored the next six points to stay alive.
Weathers finally smashed a kill to end the set, sparking hopes of an Eagles’ comeback.
“We were tipping a lot in that 10-foot zone (early on),” Quick said. “We talked to the girls about that when we had a chance to communicate with them during a timeout. We needed to swing, and we were being a little bit reserved on our swings. When we started hitting, that’s when good things started happening. It was just a little bit too late.”
The Comets’ late run in Set 3 carried over to Set 4, when they scored five consecutive points to take a 5-2 lead. Cambria Wayman had a pair of aces during the run.
After a kill by Dolbeare pulled ACA to within 8-6, BCLUW then went on a 12-2 run to build a 20-8 margin. Peters started the run with a kill and later capped it with an ace.
Shortly thereafter, the Comets punched their ticket to state when a spike attempt by Bentz deflected off the out-of-bounds pole.
“I thought this was our opportunity (for a rally), right?” Quick said. “Let’s come out and keep battling (in Set 4). We knew it was going to be a point by point match, but when they started to feel that fourth one slip away, I could see it in them. They were still fighting as hard as they could, but you could see the sadness starting to happen.”
Bentz had eight kills and 17 digs in the loss. Ella Leever, playing in her final match for the Eagles, added seven kills and 16 digs.
Freshman setter Avlyn Davis contributed 28 assists and two aces. Weathers chipped in 11 digs.
BCLUW is seeded fifth in the Class 1A tournament. The Comets will play Dunkerton (29-11) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
