(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Tuesday’s top-five volleyball showdown between fourth-ranked Ankeny and No. 3 Dowling Catholic seemed like it would take five sets to decide the winner.
Ankeny had no interest in a fifth set though, and the Hawkettes battled back from an 11-4 deficit and later overcame three set points in an extended fourth set to close out a 25-15, 21-25, 25-20, 30-28 road victory.
“(The girls) played their butts off and there’s no other way to say it,” said Ankeny coach Liz Baethke. “It was great to have some time to prepare, which our schedule has not really given us. We knew with a little rest that we were going to try to put the pieces back together and really emphasize the passing and ball control that’s got us this far.”
The chance to close things out didn’t exactly start off how the Hawkettes were hoping it would. Dowling’s Jaya Morrow opened the set with an ace to give the Maroons their initial lead.
Ankeny’s Marlee Ellison kept it within two points off a kill before Dowling kill leader Caroline Crane hammered back-to-back kills, sparking a 6-1 run that put the Hawkettes into an 11-4 hole that forced them to burn one of their two timeouts.
“My assistant had to remind me (later in the set) that I took a timeout really early and I usually don’t have to do that,” Baethke said. “I’m glad they’re on it for me because we did come a long way to close the gap and take advantage of this opportunity. You don’t get to emulate things like that in practice, so that was perfect.”
The Hawkettes got the spark they needed with a brief 3-0 run before an Elle Isaacson kill shortly thereafter ignited a 6-0 run that tied it up at 13-13.
Isaacson tallied two kills and Quinn Roush added one during the run, but it was three aces in the span of five points by sophomore setter Kellen Roush that powered Ankeny’s rally to tie the set.
The Hawkettes had a chance to close out the match after a 6-3 run gave them a 24-22 advantage.
“We noticed certain things weren’t working like for example my passing was off,” said Isaacson. “We came together and we were like, ‘How are we going to pick up each person individually?’ Once we started grouping together some points in big runs, it really helped us.”
But not only did Dowling rattle off three straight points to take a 25-24 lead, the Maroons had three different set points to try to even up the match and force a fifth set.
The Hawkettes were just able to find the response they needed.
Hailey Wiederin tied it back up with a kill, a Dowling service error tied it at 26, and Ellison swung things back into the favor Ankeny’s favor with a kill and an ace on back-to-back points.
Dowling was able to tie it back up at 28 off a kill from Gianna Stanfel before Wiederin hammered her 20th kill of the night to put the Hawkettes ahead. Then, a ball hit out of play by the Maroons clinched Ankeny’s victory.
“We all believed in each other,” said Ellison. “We knew we couldn’t give up no matter what, we trusted each other and were doing it for the girls around us.”
Ankeny opened up the match with its most decisive set of the night, holding the Maroons to just 15 points. Ellison hammered two early kills to give her team an early 4-1 lead, and the Hawkettes never looked back the rest of the set.
“Dowling is a great team and it’s always challenging to play them, so we knew we had to be on top of our game,” Ellison said. “I thought we came out strong and we had a lot of energy, which helped us go on runs.”
Much like the fourth set, Ankeny found itself trailing to open the second set as Dowling held a 7-3 lead following an ace from Crane.
The Hawkettes fired back with a 4-0 run to tie it, but a 6-1 run by the Maroons put them ahead for good.
Stanfel eventually pounded a kill to close out the set.
“(Dowling) is just really evenly distributed in the front row,” Isaacson said. “They have good rightsides, outsides and middles, which makes it really hard for blockers. I feel like we attacked well and played really good defense that helped us come out with the win.”
The Hawkettes were able to string together a couple of big points midway through the third set that gave them the edge they needed to get the advantage back over Dowling.
They trailed 13-12 in a back-and-forth set before kills from Ellison and Wiederin, along with some hitting errors from the Maroons, gave them a 17-14 lead.
Dowling got it back within a point at 21-20 before Ankeny responded with a block from Ellison and kills from Isaacson, Wiederin and Quinn Roush to close out the set.
“We knew (Dowling) was going to come back hard (after the first set), they were just a little off balance and we did a good job of sealing the net and doing all of the things out of the gate,” Baethke said. “I’m just very happy with our performance and being able to come out with a win against such a great traditional volleyball club in Dowling.”
Ellison had 18 kills and Isaacson added 13 as Ankeny defeated the Maroons for the second time this season. The Hawkettes also beat Dowling in the quarterfinals of the Ankeny Centennial Early Bird Invitational on Aug. 29.
Kellen Roush dished out 48 assists, racked up 15 digs and completed all 16 of her serves. Katelyn Mescher also had 15 digs, while Quinn Roush recorded eight blocks.
The win allowed Ankeny to bounce back from Thursday’s loss to No. 1 Waukee Northwest, which clinched at least a share of the CIML Conference title with a sweep over No. 5 Centennial on Tuesday. The Hawkettes are now 5-1 in the league and 24-6 overall, while Dowling’s records dropped to 4-2 and 17-4.
Ankeny should move ahead of the Maroons when the next Class 5A rankings are released on Thursday.
“Right after we lost to Northwest, we came together as a team and said, ‘It’s only up from here,’” Isaacson said. “We knew Dowling was our next big game to try to get back to the No. 3 seed, so we put a lot of effort into practice and it feels so good to come out on top tonight.”
Ankeny will host a conference match against No. 14 Waukee next Tuesday. The Warriors are 1-4 in the league and 12-11 overall after defeating Southeast Polk on Tuesday.
The Hawkettes already own two wins over Waukee.
