EDITOR’S NOTE: Some more photos will be added to this story later.
Ankeny Christian Academy volleyball coach Michele Quick has been under the weather for the last two days.
She felt a lot better Wednesday night after the top-ranked Eagles punched their ticket to the Class 1A championship game with a second consecutive sweep in the state tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
ACA hit .470 as a team and rolled to a 25-14, 25-14, 25-21 victory over No. 5 Holy Trinity Catholic in the semifinals. The Eagles (40-2) are just one win away from capturing a fourth state title in five years.
“(Tuesday) I was really not feeling well at all, so I was worse than today. I feel good, but I just have no voice left,” said Quick. “This (win) kind of takes all those things away. I can just push through with my voice. If that’s my worse ailment at this point, that’s ok.”
Sophomore Havanna Dolbeare pounded 20 kills, including one that closed out the match. ACA will play No. 3 Janesville (32-12) for the crown on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“It’s insane. It feels amazing,” said Dolbeare, who had just one hitting error in 30 total attacks for a .633 hitting percentage. “It hasn’t set in yet. It just feels great to be here.”
Breeze Bentz had 14 kills and hit .636, committing no errors in 22 attacks. Maleah Porter added five kills, while Gabbie Quick dished out 29 assists.
Dani Craighead recorded four blocks to lead the defense. Senior libero Katelyn Weathers added 11 digs.
Weathers was a freshman on the Eagles’ 2023 championship team. Current juniors Bentz and Liv Nehring joined Weathers on the squad that threepeated the following year.
“I absolutely know we have the capabilities (to win it again),” said Weathers. “Each and every single one of the girls believes that we can do it. I know we have the skills to do it, so we’re going to do it.”
ACA cruised through the first two sets on Wednesday. Dolbeare smashed a kill to close out the first set, then later had a block and two consecutive kills as part of a 7-1 run that gave the Eagles a 20-12 lead in Set 2.
ACA eventually closed out the set with a 4-0 run that was capped off by a kill from Bentz.
“We definitely studied them a lot so I knew some spots that were open,” Dolbeare said. “Our whole team was working on that.”
Holy Trinity Catholic (31-7), which did not record a block, kept things close for awhile in Set 3. The Crusaders went on a 9-3 run to cut the ACA lead to 15-14 before Dolbeare hammered a pair of kills to halt the rally.
“We were working the corners, and in that moment I just felt like the team needed some big points and I just tried to put the ball away for us,” Dolbeare said. “But the whole team stepped up, and we got that win at the end.”
There were six ties in the set before the Eagles used a 7-3 run to close out the match. Coach Quick said she would have preferred a less stressful finish.
“I didn’t like that at all,” she said. “We started to get a little tight, and when we get tight, I can see it in the girls’ faces and their body mannerisms. But I knew we could still pull it out. It’s just one point at a time; don’t worry about those things and just let them go. Focus on the next point.”
Weathers was proud of the way her team responded to being challenged.
“It showed that we have some grit and fight in us, and I think it re-focused us a little bit that the game is not over until it’s over,” she said. “Every single person on the other side is fighting for their season so we have to keep fighting until we get to 25 (points).”
Janesville advanced to the final for the second year in a row by sweeping No. 7 Gehlen Catholic. The Wildcats are seeking their sixth state title.
Janesville boasts a four-year starter in senior setter Tayah Pollock, who has racked up more than 3,000 assists in her career.
“We’ve watched them on film,” said coach Quick. “We’ll prepare tonight, and then we’ll spend the day (Thursday) getting ready for them. But we’ll definitely give it our best shot. We really like to stay connected. The girls have so much confidence when they walk out with their shoulders high and say, ‘I’ve got this coach.’ That means a lot because they really do believe it, and they can push through that.”
The Eagles have never lost at the state tournament. Dolbeare is hoping to keep the perfect record intact.
“It would mean so much to win the title,” she said. “God has given us so much this season. He’s been so good to us, and it would mean the world to me and the whole team if we got this win (Thursday).”