The #3 (2A) Dike-New Hartford volleyball team widened the margins in each set, and defeated #10 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg 3-0 at home Tuesday, as aired on RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel. The Wolverines won 25-20, 25-17, 25-14.
The first set was the closest. The teams traded leads throughout, and DNH went up 20-17. After the Falcons tied it at 20-20, the Wolverines took advantage of some AP mistakes and scored the final five points for the 1-0 lead. In the ensuing sets, DNH used aggressive serving while forcing AP into some precarious situations, and swept the match with relative ease. Senior middle hitter Keely Kauten had seven kills, playing a crucial role in the win.
“We just came together as a team and played hard, and I think everything kind of fell in its place and the sets were connecting with us,” Kauten says. “We were getting up on time, we got big swings up there and it was great.”
Head Coach Diane Harms says the team rode the momentum of the set 1 win.
“The first set was very, very close, we had a couple point lead, AP tied it up at 20-20,” Harms says. “And then we really put together five solid balls in a row to finish that first set out. And think that just kind of set the tempo and momentum for the next two sets. Our blockers started to come alive as the match went on, and that’s always important too.”
Rylee Reicks led the Wolverines with nine kills.
AP coach Candace Kleespies says the team will need to work on bouncing back from tough situations.
“We talk a lot about the mental toughness aspect of everything, and it’s one of those things where you’re gonna have mistakes,” Kleespies says. “You’re not playing aggressive enough if you don’t have mistakes. But again, it’s knowing when your body’s on, when your set’s there, what you have for a block and what you gotta do with the ball after that. Serve receive wasn’t too bad. Julia got pulled a little bit but she was still able to kind of get our middles going. But yeah, we gotta eliminate the back to back to back errors right now.”
Adri Allan led the Falcons with nine kills.
Both teams will have a week off before next week’s conference tournament.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HsIfZr-9jw?si=Oo6wpgKg-tOgRCG8&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9auHqsV8F40?si=_RNhJoAANMimqciv&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB6Ny2xHxRc?si=O6uEutsZGOsaE1_a&w=560&h=315]
