The Ankeny Christian Academy volleyball team was already in midseason form back in August.
Now, the top-ranked Eagles appear to be taking their game to an even higher level.
ACA scored 20 of the first 22 points and went on to post a 25-5, 25-13, 25-10 victory over visiting CAM in a Class 1A regional semifinal on Monday. It was the ninth consecutive win for the Eagles, who improved to 37-2 on the season.
“Things are definitely improving,” said ACA coach Michele Quick. “We started off really strong early in the season, and I thought, ‘Wow, maybe we’re going too fast, too soon.’ But we just continued to work on little things and tweaking and connections with hitters and defensive positioning. I couldn’t be more pleased with how they played tonight. They were ready to go.”
After CAM scored the opening point of the match, the Eagles answered with a 7-0 run that was capped off by a kill from sophomore outside hitter Havanna Dolbeare. The Cougars (15-11) ended the run by forcing a sideout, but Dolbeare answered with another kill to make it 8-2 and give the serve back to ACA.
“I know she can put the ball away,” ACA setter Gabbie Quick said of Dolbeare. “I know she’ll get a kill for the team, and I just really trust her. I trust all of our hitters, though. They’re all great.”
Katelyn Weathers then served the next 12 points as ACA built a commanding 20-2 advantage. Dolbeare racked up five kills and a block during the run.
“The first couple times she set me, it worked,” said Dolbeare, who entered the match ranked ninth in Class 1A with 351 kills. “We were feeding the hot hitter, and then she fed the middles and they were doing amazing too. That’s just what was working.”
A pair of kills by middle hitter Liv Nehring, sandwiched around an ace by Quick, helped extend the lead to 24-3. CAM then fought off two set points before Dolbeare smashed another kill to close out the set.
“I just think the team came out really strong,” said Dolbeare. “We learned a lot about them–we watched a ton of film so we knew what they were going to do. We just came out really strong as a team, and I thought everything was working really well in that first set.”
ACA led by only 4-3 in Set 2 before the Eagles reeled off four straight points to start pulling away. Dolbeare had three more kills during that stretch, and Quick added an ace.
“She’s pretty awesome,” coach Quick said of Dolbeare. “She can put the ball down hard, and we know if we can get the ball out to her really fast we can beat the block and kind of surprise the other team and then we can start moving it around. Liv jumped in there in the middle and was really just pounding the ball. We put some hard balls down from multiple people, and hopefully that gives us an edge for sure.”
Quick later had back-to-back aces as ACA extended its margin to 24-10. CAM then fought off three set points, including a long rally that allowed the Cougars to pull within 24-13, before Nehring pounded a kill to close out the set.
“This was a great game for us,” said Gabbie Quick, who entered the week with a team-high 68 aces. “We just want to keep fighting and play our best in November.”
CAM kept it close for awhile in Set 3, trailing by just 8-6 before a kill by Maleah Porter sparked a 9-1 run by the Eagles.
The Cougars simply could never get untracked. They finished with more hitting errors (14) than kills (13) and also struggled from behind the serving line, where they completed just 21-of-29 attempts (72.4 percent).
ACA eventually scored the last five points to close out the match. Quick started the run with a dump for a kill, then served two more aces before Dolbeare got the kill on the final point.
Quick, a freshman, watched her sister Katie lead the Eagles to three consecutive state titles from 2022-24. She could now play a key role herself in another ACA championship run.
“She’s got good hands, and we’re kind of setter people in our house,” said coach Quick. “She’s learned a lot from watching her sister and being around her sister. She’s got a good, strong push to the outside. We know we can push it outside and to the right side really well at a pretty quick tempo. She’s got some pieces that are working well for us.”
The Eagles will now face Stanton (17-20) in the regional final on Wednesday at Van Meter at 7 p.m. The Viqueens posted a stunning upset on Monday, winning a five-set thriller at Mormon Trail to end the Saints’ season at 29-4.
“I was a little surprised by that, but we had already scouted both of them,” coach Quick said. “We obviously know Mormon Trail really well, so we started focusing on Stanton as well just so we wouldn’t be surprised by what they have to offer. We’ve been watching them for a couple of days now just because it’s such a fast turnaround.”
Gabbie Quick said she’s confident that the Eagles can get back to the state tournament at Coralville and capture another trophy.
“We work so hard together, and we have great connections,” she said. “We really trust each other, so I think we can do it.”
Dolbeare, though, didn’t want to overlook ACA’s next opponent–despite Stanton’s losing record. The Eagles lost in a regional final last year.
“To God be the glory and hopefully we can go to state, but we’ve just got to focus on the next match,” she said.