Class 2A will take the stage for the IGHSAU Volleyball State Tournament inside Xtream Arena Tuesday.
In a match that’ll air on 104.9 KLMJ, 7-seed Aplington-Parkersburg will take on 2-seed Dike-New Hartford. It’ll be the second straight season the teams will have met in the quarterfinal.
The Falcons (28-10) have qualified for the third straight season. They enter the state tournament with momentum, having earned a five-set thriller over Riverside in last week’s regional final to advance. Head Coach Candace Kleespies says they’re playing their best at the right time.
“Any team you play down there, you’re gonna have to show up,” Kleespies says. “We’ve learned that the last two years being down there, there’s good and bads with playing another team that you’ve seen already this year, but we just keep telling the girls that we have to worry about our side of the net. And if we can control our side of the net and we come out and we play our best ball, we’ll be happy with whatever the outcome is. I mean, you wanna win, but if we can come out and do that, I think we’ve had some pretty close games with them. We keep it nice and tight and we stay composed like we have and disciplined and good things will happen. When you’re doing that and you have that no give up attitude, good things will happen.”
The Wolverines (38-9) are back for the sixth straight season and are coming off a regional tournament run where they swept each opponent. Head Coach Diane Harms says it’ll be a gauntlet of a tournament with five NICL teams in the bracket.
“It’s crazy that five of the top eight teams in Class 2A are from our conference,” Harms says. “But as we’ve talked many times, our conference is so solid, top to bottom. It’s great for our conference. And Gladbrook-Reinbeck making it there in 1A also just represents the NICL so well. It’ll be a lot of fun to see a lot of familiar faces. Not so much fun when you have to play them, but a lot of fun to see a lot of familiar faces and cheer for our conference down there.”
DNH swept the regular season meeting and has won 23 straight in the series, dating to 2007.
Pregame coverage will start at 1:00 p.m. with Meet the Team show interviews from both schools, followed by the first serve at 2:25. The winner will advance to Wednesday’s semifinal against either Hinton or Regina Catholic.
4-seed Grundy Center is back for the second time in three seasons, and will take on 5-seed Beckman Catholic on 99 The Wave. Both teams won 3-1 in their regional finals, with the Spartans beating Woodward-Granger and the Trailblazers defeating Jesup. Head Coach Lori Willis says the teams are extremely similar.
“It looks like it’s going to be really good match,” Willis says. “We put us on paper and we look pretty darn even. So that’s going to be exciting. So it should be a thriller for anybody to watch and play. They have some good hitters, we have some good hitters. They’re a good serving team, we’re a good serving team. They’re a good passing team, we’re a good passing team. We think that there’s some things that maybe we can exploit in our favor and use some of our strengths to maybe get some more points than they do. But I’m sure that they’re saying the exact same thing about us.”
Pregame coverage will start at 3:00 p.m. with Meet the Team interviews, followed by the first serve at 4:00. The winner will advance to Wednesday’s semifinal against either Denver or Wapsie Valley.
