The #9 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg volleyball team is one win away from a third consecutive state tournament appearance. They’ll take on undefeated #7 (2A) Riverside in Wednesday’s 2A Region 7 Final at Waukee Northwest on 104.9 KLMJ and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel. It was originally scheduled to be played at Van Meter, but moved due to a power outage.
The Falcons (27-10) are coming off Monday’s home sweep of East Sac County, which Head Coach Candace Kleespies describes as one of the best performances of the season.
“That was kind of our closest being to our highest level so far this year,” Kleespies says. “We did a lot of good things in that game, so we just want to take that and build off it.”
That night, senior Zoey Uhlenhopp fired down a career-high 17 terminations and the team had 10 aces.
Riverside (38-0) will look to make its second straight state tournament appearance, having reached the semifinals last year in Class 1A. A member of the Western Iowa Conference, they’ve lost only five sets during the season. In their previous matches, they defeated Underwood and Missouri Valley 3-0 to advance. With 2.9 kills per set, Sydney Somers leads the team which hits .250 on the season.
“They’re just a very consistent team. They play very disciplined volleyball. They’re a tall, athletic team. I don’t think who they see during the year has a lot of taller athletic girls, like five or six deep, but nothing to take away from them. They are a good team. They’ve been down at state the last couple of years, so they know what it takes to get there. They’ve been in those games the last couple of years too. I think we match up really well with them across the board. It’s just going to be one of those where we have to eliminate the three to four point runs. And if we can keep it with only them getting away with maybe two point runs, I think it’s going to be a battle back and forth.”
Pregame coverage will start at 6:45 p.m., followed by the first serve at 7:00.
Candace Kleespies interview:
