MADRID — Sparked by a pair of lineup changes, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter played some of its best volleyball of the season Saturday, winning a tournament at Madrid.
The Raiders won all five of their matches, including a three-set match against West Marshall, 23-25, 26-24, 15-11, in the championship round.
“During the week, we made some fairly significant changes to strengthen our passing, allowing us to get better sets for our hitters,” CMB head coach Scott Ranck said. “It was a tough move, but the girls really responded positively to those changes.”
Scott moved senior MacKenzie Schmitz, who had been the varsity team’s setter since her freshman year, to libero. The Raiders then pulled up sophomore Kathleen Baldwin from the JV squad to play as the setter.
The moves proved beneficial for the Raiders in several areas. After recording its lowest kill efficiency of the season against Prairie City-Monroe earlier in the week, CMB had its two highest kill efficiencies all year in the tournament; CMB posted a mark of .305 in the semifinals against Ankeny Christian Academy and .224 against West Marshall in the final.
The Raiders beat West Marshall twice, first in pool play (20-22, 22-20, 15-9) and then for the tournament title. Abbey Appelgate had a season-high eight kills and no errors in championship match and Alex Hlavacek served seven aces, also a season high.
“Everything just kind of snowballed in a positive manner,” Ranck said. “We just seemed to get stronger and more comfortable as the day went on. Everyone responded in the passing area, which allowed us to get good sets, which allowed our hitters to get good looks at putting the ball on the floor.”
Hurly and Jurgens led the Raiders with 29 kills total for the tournament.
CMB beat Iowa Christian Academy (21-19, 21-19), Colfax-Mingo (23-21, 21-10) and West Marshall in pool play to advance to the semifinals, where the Raiders won, 25-15, 25-17.
Schmitz and Baldwin both performed well in their new spots. Schmitz had 21 digs in the first match against Iowa Christian Academy, leading Scott to say, “so we knew this move was going to work.” Schmitz then had a season-high 23 digs in the championship match.
“She is an outstanding passer and and really has outstanding vision of the court,” Scott said of Schmitz. CMB’s head coach was also pleased with Schmitz’s “on-target passes on serve receive as well as her command of the court that didn’t show up in the statistics.”
Baldwin averaged more than 17 assists per game in the tournament.
“Overall, I am very proud of each member of this team. They worked very hard and pulled together,” Ranck said, “an to top it off, won the tournament.”
Colfax-Mingo goes 1-2 at Madrid tournament
Colfax-Mingo lost to West Marshall, 18-21, 21-12, 15-13, and CMB, but beat Iowa Christian Academy, 21-18, 16-21, 15-11, in what head coach Michelle Grant called “our best game of the season.”
Sara Lahart, Alivia Haley and Amy Russell all had six digs in the win. Ries Wilson led Colfax-Mingo with 11 kills in the match and Megan Earles assisted on 21 of the team’s 27 kills.