TRAER – “Last night (Thursday, Oct. 31) was very bittersweet,” Montezuma volleyball Coach Katie Dunlap said.
The Bravettes lost, 3-0, to North Tama in the semifinals of the Class 1A regional tournament, ending Montezuma’s season.
Montezuma also saw the ends of the prep volleyball careers for seniors Maddy McKeag, Shelby Conger and Waverly Roorda.
That’s the “bitter” part. It didn’t go down easy. It never does.
The “sweet” part?
“Looking at the season and this team, comparing the start to now, these girls have grown so much,” Dunlap said.
“I feel like just now – at the end of the season – we did see some of our girls tap into their potential.”
“I am very sad to see my seniors go,” Dunlap said. “But I am excited to see what this young group will be able to do next year.”
North Tama won on scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25-13. That maybe sounds a little more one-sided that play actually was. For sure, it was intense.
“The games were close, but unfortunately, they were able to pull ahead in all three sets and win,” Dunlap said.
“I think we played well, though,” the coach said. “We played as a team and that was a victory to me.”
Dunlap credited the work of “power players, like #10 (Katie Kopriva), #12 (Abby Deboef) and #5 (Carlie Gorder). “They were able to find our weak areas,” the coach said.
Katie Kopriva, a 6-footer, led with 20 kills. Gorder had seven and Deboef had five.
The teams made a similar number of attacks – 87 by North Tama, 85 by the Bravettes. But North Tama had 37 kills, a .299 percentage. Montezuma was at 26 kills, a .153 average.
North Tama did the better job of digging out attacks and passing the ball forward.
The other key difference was serving. Montezuma lost despite its best serving percentage (.957) of the season. The reason: North Tama served the ball 73 times, to Montezuma’s 47.
The Redhawks served it well, too – 63-for-73 (.909) with nine aces.
Ashlyn Krousie led Montezuma with 10 kills, and in digs with 12.
Maddy McKeag and Katie Reynolds each had 10 digs.
Roorda led in assists with 18.
“I think our nerves made us make some net errors that we haven’t made in a long time,” Dunlap said.
The Bravettes closed out a 20-17 season. They won nine of their final 13 matches.
The Redhawks take a 25-6 record into the regional championship match against Grand View Christian.
Bravette stats
Kills – Ashlyn Krousie 10, Waverly Roorda 4, Shanae Wetering 4, Dylan Holland 3, Korinn Kehoe 3, Shelby Conger 2.
Assists – Roorda 18, Katie Reynolds 7.
Digs – Krousie 12, Maddy McKeag 10, Reynolds 10, Conger 6, Roorda 6, Kierstyn Price 5.
Blocks – Conger 1, Holland 1, Kehoe 1, Wetering 1.
Serving – Conger 10-10 with one ace; Roorda 9-9 with one ace; Reynolds 7-7, Holland 7-8 with one ace; Kehoe 6-6, Krousie 6-7 with one ace.
North Tama stat leaders
Kills – Katie Kopriva 20, Carlie Gorder 7, Abby Deboef 5.
Assists – Isabel Sierra 32.
Digs – Takoa Kopriva 12, Katie Kopriva 9, Lainey Willenbring 9.
Blocks – Gorder 2
Serving – Sierra 14-15 with 2 aces; Katie Kopriva 12-13 with one ace; Willenbring 11-13 with 3 aces; Takoa Kopriva 11-11 with one ace.
