The Ankeny Centennial volleyball team got off to a fast start Tuesday and never looked back.
The fifth-ranked Jaguars scored the first seven points, racked up 12 aces and rolled to a 25-11, 25-10, 25-13 victory over No. 9 Valley in a CIML Conference match at Centennial.
“That was a great win. I thought we played really, really well,” said Centennial coach Jessica Rinehart. “I expected it to be more of a battle, but I was really proud of how we executed our game plan and stuck with it all three games. We were able to re-set after each game and treat each game as its own.”
Centennial outhit the Tigers by a .386 to -.036 margin. The Jaguars improved to 3-2 in the conference and 15-5 overall, while Valley’s records dropped to 2-3 and 11-7.
It was the first CIML win at home for Centennial, which had lost on its home court to both No. 4 Dowling Catholic and No. 3 Ankeny earlier this month. The Jaguars moved into sole possession of fourth place.
“We’ve had a hard schedule, but it feels good to finally get a win at home,” said Centennial setter Emma VandenHull.
VandenHull ignited the Jaguars’ fast start by serving the first seven points. She had the first of her three aces to give her team a 3-0 lead.
Madi VanBruggen had a pair of kills during the run. Sophia Heither then smashed a kill and recorded a block on consecutive points to make it 7-0.
“That’s something we’ve been really working on in practice–just starting off strong and continuing throughout the whole game,” VandenHull said.
VanBruggen later had another kill to force a sideout while extending Centennial’s lead to 11-5. Kaelyn Rinehart then served the next six points as the Jaguars built a commanding 17-5 advantage.
Rinehart had an ace during that run, and Ellie Pollock later served another ace to close out the set.
“Every game matters so much more now as we get closer to the end of the season,” Rinehart said. “We’re really just trying to be playing our best by the postseason, and I think tonight we finally started connecting across the board.”
There were six ties in Set 2 before Heither pounded a pair of kills to put Centennial ahead for good, 8-6. VandenHull had two more aces in a 10-0 run that gave the Jaguars a 16-6 lead.
Kenlie Erickson later closed out the set with a kill. She finished with four kills on four swings for a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage.
“You do feel a sense of urgency to keep growing, and this is a team that we knew would grow,” coach Rinehart said. “I was excited to see what we did tonight because it did show good growth. We’re just going to stay the course and keep getting better.”
Valley got a pair of kills from Brynn Cibula to open Set 3 and later got another kill from Cibula to take a 12-11 lead. The Tigers capitalized on five Centennial serving errors to keep it close for awhile.
“The goal was to serve aggressive,” coach Rinehart said. “We got a little wonky in that game three, but we dialed it back in and put pressure on their passers which made our blocking and our defense easier. It makes the whole game easier if you’re serving aggressive.”
After Centennial tied the score on a Tigers’ hitting error, Rinehart’s daughter served the next 11 points to give the Jaguars a 23-12 lead.
Rinehart had three of her eight aces during the run, while VanBruggen contributed a trio of kills. Sidney Rogers completed the run with back-to-back kills.
Rinehart completed 27-of-28 serves on the night and also racked up 13 digs.
“We knew we could attack them from the service line,” Rinehart said. “That’s something we’ve been working on in practice. It was good to go and attack their passers and get them out of system.”
Bailey Snyder had her eighth kill shortly thereafter to close out the match. She was one of six Jaguars to record at least four kills.
VanBruggen finished with 11 kills and four blocks, while Heither had eight kills and four blocks. Heither also posted a .615 hitting percentage.
Pollock chipped in five kills and 10 digs. Rogers added five kills.
VandenHull dished out 22 assists and also completed 19-of-21 serves. Kenna Sorensen had 10 assists.
“We’ve been breaking our season down into increments,” VandenHull said. “When we get done with one part, we just want to keep going and going.”
The Jaguars will travel to Southeast Polk on Thursday for another conference match against the Rams, who are 1-3 in the league and 7-6 overall after being swept by No. 1 Waukee Northwest on Tuesday.
