Treynor soars past Mount Ayr

TREYNOR — At one point in the first set of Monday’s Class 2A Region 3 quarterfinal, Treynor held a slim 10-9 lead over Mount Ayr.

The Cardinals then caught fire the remainder of the first set.

Mount Ayr had no answer then, or the rest of the match, rattled by a dominant service run.

Treynor, ranked 11th in Class 2A, breezed through the next two sets to sweep Mount Ayr, ranked 15th, 3-0, 25-10, 25-13, 25-10.

The Cardinals (28-6) advance to the regional semifinals Thursday. Treynor will take on seventh-ranked St. Albert. The Saintes (24-4) dispatched Griswold in three straight sets, 25-19, 25-12, 25-15, Monday.

Mount Ayr’s season comes to a close at 30-2.

Treynor won for the fifth time in the past six matches.

“We’re just clicking right now,” said Treynor coach Jeff Koenck. “We’re regaining what we had early on in the year. This is the time to do it. I’m proud of them.”

Behind the strong serving of Sydni Huisman, the Cardinals dominated the later two-thirds of the first set.

Huisman was on serve for 14 straight points as Mount Ayr had no answer for Huisman’s serve.

Huisman served at the weak spots in Mount Ayr’s back row.

“We started to pick on their poor passers,” Koenck said. “We worked really hard on our serve. We want to be aggressive. We want to be consistent and that work is paying off.”

Mount Ayr’s confidence started sagging after Huisman dropped in a couple of serves.

The lack of confidence was counter to a strong start over the first few points.

“We started off with a lot of momentum,” said Mount Ayr coach Tori Braby. “As soon as we made a couple of bad passes, then we automatically got in our head that we’re in trouble. Treynor took it away from there.”

The Raiderettes felt the pressure of the situation.

“Nerves definitely played a big role,” Braby said. “I couldn’t get our girls to calm down. Nerves played a bit part of it.”

Huisman’s serving struggled in the middle of the season.

She caught fire at the right time for the Cardinals.

“She’s a great server,” Koenck said. “For part of the season, she was starting to struggle. She was missing serves that she shouldn’t. It wasn’t anything we needed to change. We just said get your confidence back and she did.”

Huisman attacked the weak part of the Raiderettes back row. When Mount Ayr was able to make a good first pass it couldn’t quite set up the offense.

“They weren’t in system,” Koenck said. “We knew if we could keep them out of system, we’d get a lot of pushes and a lot of freeballs.”

Huisman finished 28-of-28 serving with four aces.

The long service run transpired with Raiderettes star hitter Kelcie Shields in the back row.

“We couldn’t get her in the front row,” Braby said. “We know when she’s in the front row, we need to score. We couldn’t get out of that rotation.”

The free balls Mount Ayr sent over led to easy swings for Treynor’s offense.

The Cardinals capitalized, led by Abby Tiarks and sophomore Konnor Sundmann.

Tiarks pounded home 17 kills on 23 attempts with two errors, for a .652 attack percentage. She added 13 assists. Sudmann had seven kills.

Huisman was also effective offensively. She slammed home six kills on 10 attempts with no errors, then dished out 24 assists.

“When we’re talking and passing the ball, we have a lot of options,” Koenck said. “They don’t care who gets the glory. They want to win. They’re doing it together and that makes all the difference.”

Treynor’s speed allowed them to hit through plenty of single blocks.

“They were definitely great on the front row,” Braby said. “I’ve been saying all season long we need to get better on blocking. If you have hitters on their side and you don’t block them, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

Mount Ayr couldn’t keep up with the speed Treynor had.

“We knew they were a lot faster pace than what we’ve been going up against,” Braby said. “They’ve got six girls who are pretty quick.”

Treynor came in expecting a stiff test from the Pride of Iowa regular season and tournament champions.

“When you have a squad that’s 30-1, you have to respect them and be ready,” Koenck said.

Treynor started hot in the second set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Cardinals scored 9-of-12 points at one spot to take a 17-6 lead and they rolled from there.

In the third set, the Cardinals took a 5-3 advantage and turned it into a commanding 14-5 edge then went on from there.

Shields led Mount Ayr with seven kills. Keirston Klommhaus had four kills. Alyssa Johnson had seven assists.

Braby was proud of the team’s progress over the past four seasons. When the senior group of Shields, Tessa Shields, Sadie Frost, Blair Glendenning and Macy Larsen were freshman, the Raiderettes went just 5-23.

“They’ve built our team up,” Braby said. “They were 30-2 this season. That’s going to be hard for any other team in Mount Ayr history to beat a record like that. It took a long time for them to get it going. I’m very proud of all of the girls.”

Braby credits the seniors with leading the turnaround.

“It’s a great group of seniors,” Braby said. “They’re going to be big shoes to fill.”

Braby is excited about what’s coming up though.

“Our JV kids went in there and were just as good as the varsity,” she said. “The foundation is there.”