Saturday’s Ankeny Centennial Early Bird Invitational featured many of the state’s top volleyball teams from multiple classes.
In the end, the team walking away with the championship was the same one that captured the Class 5A title a year ago and began this season ranked No. 1 among the state’s largest schools.
Waukee Northwest posted a 25-22, 25-18 victory over No. 3 Ankeny to defend its tournament crown. The Wolves (7-1) swept Centennial in last year’s final.
“Obviously, Northwest is a really tough team,” said Ankeny senior Marlee Ellison. “We were just super glad to have the opportunity to come and play really good teams.”
Ankeny (6-2) bounced back from a loss to Class 3A No. 3 Western Christian during pool play to reach the final. The Hawkettes outlasted No. 5 Dowling Catholic in the quarterfinals (25-20, 22-25, 16-14) and Class 4A No. 12 Davenport Assumption in the semifinals (25-20, 17-25, 15-12).
“I feel extremely proud,” said Ankeny coach Liz Baethke. “We were definitely running out of gas against Assumption, so I was pretty pleased that we at least came in with energy (against Northwest). We’re still working on things–collecting information–and we see a lot of these teams over and over. Each time is always going to be more helpful than the last time.”
No. 10 Centennial, meanwhile, swept all three of its opponents during pool play before dropping a 25-23, 15-25, 15-13 decision to Assumption in the quarterfinals. The loss prevented the Jaguars (4-2) from meeting their crosstown rival in an early preview of their Sept. 15 matchup at Centennial.
“It was a good match, but we just started slow,” said Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart. “We had sat for a long time, and we didn’t come out ready to play. Then we clawed all the way back, and we played a great second set. I’ll have to watch the video to see what happened in the third (set), but we couldn’t finish it.”
After Ankeny knocked off Assumption, the Hawkettes battled Northwest to the wire in Set 1 before the Wolves emerged with the victory.
Northwest then got off to a fast start in Set 2 before Ankeny rallied to take a 12-10 lead, forcing the Wolves to call a timeout.
“We had some ups and downs, but I feel pretty good about how consistent we were,” Baethke said. “This is always the toughest Saturday (tournament) in my opinion, but the consistency we displayed was good. There were a couple of times on Tuesday night (at the Ankeny triangular) where we looked a little panicky, but we are starting to develop an outer layer of toughness. Our confidence is really growing as well as our trust in each other.”
Northwest then reeled off five straight points to take the lead for good. London Taylor put the Wolves ahead with back-to-back aces, then Logan Vogt capped the run with a pair of kills.
Northwest eventually closed out the match when a spike attempt by the Hawkettes sailed out of bounds.
“We feel great,” Ellison said. “We have stuff to work on, but overall it was a really good day.”
The Wolves were coming off a loss to No. 13 Valley in the Marj White Classic on Thursday night at Valley Stadium. The Tigers ended Northwest’s 22-match winning streak dating back to last season.
The Wolves avenged that loss during pool play on Saturday, but then dropped a pair of sets during bracket play. They were forced to rally to defeat both No. 7 Iowa City Liberty in the quarterfinals and Western Christian in the semifinals.
“There’s a little more parity for sure,” Baethke said. “It was a great day, and I’m super proud of the kids. We got a lot of playing time for some of the kids on the bench, so I’m happy with that as well.”
Rinehart agreed that the battle for supremacy in Class 5A will be more competitive than last year.
“It’s going to be wild,” she said. “Anybody can beat anybody. There were so many great players in the gym today. It was fun to watch; it was some good volleyball. I just think we have to show up to play every time we play this season.”
Centennial, Dowling and Northwest each went 3-0 during pool play without dropping a set. The Jaguars defeated Waterloo United (21-9, 21-8), Class 3A No. 4 Dike-New Hartford (21-13, 21-12) and Liberty (21-12, 21-17).
“We were rolling. We had some good wins,” Rinehart said. “We wanted to go a little further than what we did, but there’s always something we can learn from it too.”
Ankeny placed second in its pool with a 2-1 mark. Western Christian also went 2-1, but won the pool based on its 21-14, 12-21, 15-11 win over the Hawkettes.
Ankeny swept two other ranked opponents. The Hawkettes defeated No. 12 Waukee (21-11, 21-8) and No. 8 Pleasant Valley (21-16, 21-16).
“They’re all super good teams, so I felt really good about all of our wins,” Ellison said. “I just feel like our practices have been super productive, and I think this is just the start of what we can do.”
Both Ankeny and Centennial will begin CIML Conference play on Tuesday. The Jaguars will host a showdown against Dowling (6-1), while the Hawkettes will travel to Southeast Polk to face the Rams (4-0)–the league’s last remaining unbeaten team.
“Everybody has a fair shot this year,” Ellison said. “The whole CIML is super good.”
