The Ankeny volleyball team may have found a glimmer of hope from the third set of Thursday’s loss to Waukee Northwest.
Even though the fourth-ranked Hawkettes were swept on their home court in a showdown for the CIML Conference lead, No. 1 Northwest was pushed to the limit in Set 3 before closing out a 25-15, 25-20, 31-29 victory.
“They’re a beatable team,” Ankeny junior Hailey Wiederin said of the Wolves. “They’re good, but are beatable. We just weren’t acting like we could play with them. But I think next time we see them, for sure it could be different.”
Northwest is seeking its third state title in four years. The Wolves swept Ankeny in last year’s Class 5A semifinals, then defeated the Hawkettes again, 25-22, 25-18, in the finals of the Ankeny Centennial Early Bird Invitational on Aug. 29.
On Thursday, Ankeny nearly took a set from the Wolves for the first time since 2024, when the Hawkettes won a five-set match at Northwest. Coach Liz Baethke’s team had six set points in the third set, but could not close it out.
“I was really happy with the fight at the end, but I was expecting us to come out that way too,” Baethke said.
Northwest was just two points away from closing out the match after Avery Cordes recorded a block and two consecutive aces to give the Wolves a 23-20 lead. But the Hawkettes then responded with four straight points for a 24-23 advantage.
After Northwest tied the score and forced a sideout, Ankeny got another set point following a kill by Elle Isaacson. But the Wolves answered with a kill by Piper Ladwig to tie it again at 25-25.
The two teams continued to alternate sideouts for the next eight points. Wiederin hammered four of her match-high 16 kills to give the Hawkettes four more set points, but each time Northwest countered.
Cordes smashed a pair of kills to tie the score at 28 and 29. After Northwest took a 30-29 lead on an Ankeny hitting error, Cordes then served her third ace to close out the match.
“It was just unfortunate,” said Wiederin, who also had a match-high 13 digs. “We did what we could, but we just fell a little short.”
The win improved Northwest to 6-0 in the conference and 15-2 overall. The Wolves can clinch at least a share of the league crown with a win over No. 5 Ankeny Centennial on Tuesday.
Ankeny’s records dropped to 4-1 and 23-6 heading into another showdown on Tuesday at No. 3 Dowling Catholic (4-1, 17-3). The Hawkettes are still battling some injuries that have plagued them in recent weeks, Baethke said.
“This (match) wasn’t ideal timing, especially on the heels of the weekend (tournament),” she said. “But we’re getting there. Now that we don’t have any Saturdays left–we have one quad left–we’re going to take a couple days off and heal and try to be 100 percent for Dowling.”
Northwest never trailed in the opening set. A tip kill by Logan Vogt broke a 2-2 tie, and the Wolves led the rest of the way.
Northwest eventually closed out the set with a 5-1 run, capped off by a kill from Ladwig.
“I thought we lacked some energy early on,” Baethke said. “It’s really been a brutal two weeks, but I still thought that we were prepared. We haven’t had a lot of time to practice though, to be honest–playing every other day for two weeks. But the girls were excited, and they were looking forward to the matchup. We just didn’t execute because there were things we controlled and thought we did a good job of, but we were just a little too fractured tonight.”
There were five lead changes and 11 ties in Set 2. Ankeny took a 14-10 lead on an ace by Wiederin, forcing the Wolves to call a timeout.
Northwest then answered with a 7-2 run, getting a block from the 6-foot-4 Ladwig and 6-2 Cassidy Danburg to regain a 17-16 advantage. The Wolves racked up 21 blocks in the win.
“We were just focusing on seeing high hands, because that’s all they can do,” Wiederin said. “They’re a big, physical team.”
After Ankeny got a sideout on a service error, the Wolves scored seven of the next eight points to build a 24-18 lead. The Hawkettes got a kill from Wiederin and an ace from Katelyn Mescher to fight off a pair of set points before Cordes pounded a kill to close out the set.
The Wolves outhit Ankeny by a .299 to .196 margin. Ladwig led the way with 12 kills, Vogt chipped in 11, and Cordes added 10 kills and a match-high eight blocks while completing all 13 of her serves and posting a .562 hitting percentage.
Marlee Ellison pounded 10 kills for the Hawkettes. Isaacson had eight and was 13-of-13 from behind the serving line, but her team connected on just 56-of-65 attempts (86.2 percent).
Kellen Roush dished out 34 assists in the loss. Quinn Roush had three blocks, Mescher contributed 12 digs, and Raquel Risk had a pair of aces.
“We have to be smarter,” Baethke said. “We have to be crafty and do things that aren’t necessarily as consistent, but with all the teams in the CIML you have to expect that–and we knew that. We’re capable of doing that.”
