Eagles, Timberwolves split triangular in Corning

CORNING – Class 1A No. 15 Southwest Valley and East Union split the Monday night slate, going 1-1 with Stanton involved in a volleyball triangular at Southwest Valley.

The evening opened up with two Pride of Iowa foes squaring off in the Eagles and the Timberwolves for their first game of the day.

The Eagles came out of the gates firing, opening up a 10-4 lead in the first set against SWV.

SWV battled back to pull it to 10-8, but East Union hauled off for a 15-9 lead off attempts from SWV going long, blocked shots counting for points and a kill from EU’s Alissa Weinkoetz.

Southwest Valley didn’t roll over in the first set however, clawing its way to a one-point deficit on combination of Jentry Schafer working the net and serving well.

Schafer’s serve was broken at 19-18 with the Timberwolves trailing. Southwest Valley got one point away from tying the score again at 23-22, but back-to-back faults for the Timberwolves gave the Eagles the two points needed to take the set at 25-22.

The Timberwolves were quick to get ahead in the second set, pulling ahead 9-5 before East Union reeled them in on six-point stretch where the Eagles made it a 12-11 game

East Union hung around long enough to eventually tie the score at 14-14 due to a tipped block attempt from Southwest Valley.

The tie score was broke on Schafer’s serve, turning a tie game into a 23-14 game in favor of the Timberwolves.

The nine straight points was broke on a Marah Larson shot going long, leading to a short run for the Eagles to make it 23-18.

The rally wasn’t enough to make a dent in the deficit as Southwest Valley forced a third and decisive set with a 25-19 set win.

The third set started in Southwest Valley’s favor, taking a 3-0 lead off the serve of Kayley Myers.

A resilient Eagles team fought their way back, tying the score at 6-6 as SWV’s floor communication started to break down

The Eagles took the lead on a Schafer miss where the set up for her was too far out of her reach to make it 7-6, but the score flipped from both sides in the following serves with neither team taking no more than a two-point advantage.

At 12-11, the Eagles were able to gain serve, riding a four-point streak to win the match on the final and deciding set at 15-12.

The gameplan facing the No. 15 team in Class 1A was to create a wall for SWV’s attacking front, along with moving a few people around to fit the scheme.

“We were really focusing on making sure we were putting up a big block, making them go around our blocking,” said East Union head coach Gail Thatcher. “It’s improving. We’ve made some adjustments with moving Grace Nixon to a different position so she could set up the block. ... And moving Alissa Weinkoetz strictly to middle so she could attack.”

The Eagles were led in kills by Weinkoetz with 12. Elizabeth Hardy and Quinn Eslinger had 10 and 11 assists, respectively. Jayden Welcher was the team leader in digs, posting 16.

Southwest Valley struggled to find answers to East Union in the opening set.

“Just total frustration. I don’t know why we can’t come out of the gate strong and play the volleyball they know how to play. In Set 2 we seemed to play better, but we just kind of played flat. I don’t have much words for it other than frustration,” said Southwest Valley head coach Lindsay Wetzel. “... They (East Union) came ready to play.”

Communicating was another big factor to EU’s play in the opening match.

“We talked about communicating,” said Thatcher. “Calling for the ball on the court so people can release and do their job. We’re still just not doing that all the time, ... (in practice) we’ve just been working on the communication.”

Southwest Valley was led by Schafer in kills with eight. Kayley Myers and Schafer had 13 and 12 digs, respectively. Schafer also had two solo blocks and went 19-for-19 on serve attempts.

Norah Lund had two kills in six attempts and dour digs. She went 9-for-9 at the service line, tallying the only two aces for SWV in the match.

Stanton tops EU

East Union’s adjustments worked against Stanton, holding the Viqueens to a 6-6 game before the Viqueens pulled away with a lead.

A Weinkoetz and Olivia Cheers shot going long paired with blocks falling for points and players unable to get down for a dig in time turned the opening set into a 14-8 game.

EU had three runs of three points, going on a 9-2 run to go ahead 17-16.

A Welcher extra effort dive for a dig kept a ball in play on the following serve, but the volley ended in a point for the Viqueens to tie the game at 17-17.

A blocked shot at the net fell for a point, handing the lead over to Stanton for the final lead change of the set.

Stanton cruised to the opening set win at 25-18.

In set two the Eagles again opened up ahead, at one point holding a 9-2 lead, but Stanton reeled in the Eagles to take a 10-8 lead.

A 6-1 stretch pulled Stanton ahead at 20-16, enough of a buffer for Stanton to retain the lead until the final point at 25-19.

Weinkoetz had nine kills against Stanton. Mikala Sanson had five on nine attempts.

Hardy and Eslinger combined for 16 assists and Welcher was the team leader in digs with 11.

Despite the loss, Thatcher felt the serving for the Eagles was a successful part of both sets.

“I thought our serving was working well,” said Thatcher. “I think we only had two service errors, ... we just weren’t getting the bass up so we could attack at our full strength and that’s what hampered us.”

The Eagles were 34 of 37 from the service line against East Union with two aces. EU had 40 successful attack attempts, going 40 of 50 with 17 kills.

SWV and Stanton duel it out

After a short break in between matches, Southwest Valley hit the floor to face a Stanton team that had just finished off East Union.

The contrast between tired and fresh legs did not come into play as the Wolverines quickly fell behind 9-5 to Stanton.

A shot attempt from Stanton’s Tara Peterson paired with a floater off the hand of Delaney Dalton that dropped at the feet of the Viqueen’s Brooklyn Adams pulled the score to within two, but Stanton did not let up.

Efficient blocking up front by Jenna Stephens turned into a point for Stanton, making it 12-10. Despite a loud and energy shifting block, Southwest Valley came back and took the lead off a powerful kill from Schafer to take the lead at 13-12.

A block attempt off another Schafer try, an attack going wide and a Norah Lund ace gave the Timberwolves a three-point lead over Stanton.

A three-point stretch of their own pulled the Viqueens back even at 16-16, leading to a string of point trading by both sides.

Three points, including an ace from Isabelle Inman, gave SWV the lead again, this time with some room for error.

Stanton was able to gain a point back, but a block and a ball falling in front three Viqueen defenders were the deciding points to give the Timberwolves the set win at 25-20.

Southwest Valley and Stanton again battled early in set two, trading points at a one-point margin before either team made separation.

The Viqueens created some room at 11-8 on a kill from Stephens.

SWV battled deeper into the set, evening up the score at 19-19, 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22 before a blocked shot on Marah Larsen swing the momentum and gave Stanton a 25-22 set win to force a deciding third frame.

In the third set, SWV took the early lead, but the lead quickly turned into a points race to 15 as both sides traded scores.

A Myers kill paired with a Schafer kill made it a one-point game at 10-9, but a floater into no-man’s land by Stanton tied it up.

Back-to-back scores gave SWV an edge as match point neared. A point off Larsen’s serve gave the Timberwolves a 14-12 lead before the final point.

Wetzel felt the faster pace of play from Stanton is a sign the Eagles need to be ready for anything when playing at any moment.

“Stanton, I feel like, was a lot faster than East Union. They ran faster tempo things than East Union ... we have to be able to come out and play no matter who we’re playing, no matter what time, no matter if it’s a Monday, we have to be ready to play or we’re going to keep learning the hard way.”

Despite battling into three sets, Wetzel felt the best volleyball for the Timberwolves came in the final three sets of the night, especially regarding hitting.

“I think we played a lot better,” said Wetzel. “We were communicating more, the connection between Isabelle (Inman) and Jentry (Schafer) was good. Against East Union we had four hitters and negative hitting efficiency. We’re not going to win with that. Against Stanton, nobody was in negatives. It makes a big difference.”

Against Stanton the Timberwolves were led by Schafer in kills with 6. Inman had 27 assists for the team lead.

Schafer had three solo blocks. Delaney Dalton had two solos and Larsen had a solo block also.

Myers led the team in digs with nine. Inman and Dalton were behind her with seven and six digs, respectively.

The Timberwolves went 57-for-62 on serve attempts with four aces.

UP NEXT – East Union (7-9) will play Wayne (3-11) tonight (Tuesday) at home at 7:30 p.m. Class 1A No. 15 Southwest Valley (10-4) will play at Lenox (9-5) tonight (Tuesday) against the Tigers with a start time of 7:30 p.m.