Raiders suffer season-ending loss to HOIAC rival

JEWELL — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter volleyball coach Scott Ranck put a lot of emphasis on serve receive leading up to the Raiders’ Class 2A Region 5 quarterfinal match with South Hamilton on Tuesday.

The Hawks served up 17 aces in the first meeting between Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference rivals that ended in a three-set sweep back on Oct. 16.

And while things were a little better against South Hamilton the second time around, the Raiders still had trouble as the Hawks served up 13 aces in a 25-14, 25-9. 25-19 win here.

“I thought it was better tonight than when we played them a week and a half ago,” Ranck said. “We adjusted, but they got the ball quick and served quick and weren’t ready for the serve at times. Things just kind of snowballed, too.”

The Raiders (10-13) managed to keep things close with their conference rivals but South Hamilton used big runs in each game to grab momentum.

With a 16-13 lead in the opening set, the Hawks rolled off six in a row to essentially close out the win. Carly Swenson had a pair of aces during that spurt and Ady Wintermote also had three kills down the stretch.

Wintermote finished with nine kills and a team-high 15 digs, while Swenson added 10 assists and eight aces.

“We served it at seams and tried to serve it to a direction they don’t like to go,” said South Hamilton coach Cindy Holmes. “We were really just serving to get free balls back to us. Anytime we can get free balls back to us, that helps us run our offense better.”

The Hawks’ dominance spilled over into set two. The Raiders stayed even with South Hamilton for the first eight points, but a 15-0 run was all the home team needed to go up 2-0 in the match.

During that spurt, Wintermote had three kills, Avery Klemp added a block and a kill and Swenson delivered five aces. Swenson’s tip from the setter position then made it 20-6 and the Hawks eventually finished it off with another ace.

“That happened a lot to us early in the season,” said Ranck about the long runs. “We came out and tried to give it our best shot. South Hamilton is a good team, and we knew they’d be ready to go.”

Despite falling behind 9-0 in the final set, CMB showed some fight and tied it at 15-all. Junior Bridget Hurley had back-to-back kills and sophomore Mikayla Eslinger chipped in two blocks during the rally. Hurley’s ace put the Raiders ahead 16-15, but South Hamilton (15-11) recovered to score seven of the next eight points.

Alyssa Hegland, who finished with a match-high 11 kills, pushed momentum back to the Hawks with four kills and then Wintermote gave them game point with another blast.

“I was really proud of them. They had every chance to just cash it in and go home for the night, but they really dug in and fought back and tried to chip away at it,” said Ranck of the rally from a 9-0 hole. “Some of that I think was our seniors just not wanting it to be over.”

Other than the stretch where CMB rallied in the third set, Holmes thought her team played really well. The Hawks will have to play even better Friday though as they travel to Grundy Center to face the seventh-ranked Spartans, who easily swept aside West Marshall in their regional quarterfinal match.

“We were pretty dominant offensively and that was exciting to see,” said Holmes. “We didn’t just play good enough to win.

“I thought we passed really well and, except for the one big run they made in game three, I thought we set the ball real well, too, and kept our hitters spaced.”

Hurley led the Raiders with six kills and 11 digs, while senior Abbey Appelgate chipped in three kills and 11 digs. Sophomore Kathleen Baldwin dished out 13 assists, while senior Mackenzie Schmitz had nine digs and was 10-for-10 in serves.

CMB finished better than .500 for the first time in five seasons in 2013 and followed that up with another double-digit win total in 2014.

Ranck credits a group of seniors who played their final match Tuesday as a big reason for the turnaround.

“They have worked hard this season and have gotten us to where we are right now the past three or four years,” said Ranck. “CMB volleyball has been down for a few years. We have a lot of good underclassmen coming up. I think we are just starting to scratch the surface and hopefully we can move up a little higher in the conference.”

Notebook

The Raiders came into the match having won seven of their last 10 matches, while South Hamilton was 2-7 in its last nine. One of those two wins was the win against CMB though. Payge Jurgens had three kills Tuesday and finished with a team-high 134 for the season. Hurley capped her junior season with 117 kills and 213 digs. Schmitz finished her final season at CMB with 166 assists and 264 digs. Baldwin’s 13 assists Tuesday capped her season total at 185.

Contact Troy Hyde at
641-792-3121 ext. 6536 or thyde@newtondailynews.com.