BELLE PLAINE – Tired? You bet they were.
But done? Not quite.
Trailing 2-0 in sets to Belle Plaine in the South Iowa Cedar League championship match, the Montezuma girls “gave it all we had in set three,” Coach Tim Burgess said.
The Bravettes won that set, 25-19. But Belle Plaine won the next set and the match, 3-1, on Thursday evening, Oct. 15.
Scores for Belle Plaine were 25-17, 25-21, 19-25 and 25-14.
“To be down 2-0 and play as well as we did was a great test image of who they are and want to be as people,” Burgess said about his players.
“However, in the last set, we were just a step slow,” the coach said. “The effort was there, but Belle Plaine is extremely talented and pulled away for good. Credit to them and their program.”
As the top seed, Belle Plaine got to play its semifinal match at 5 p.m, while the Bravettes did’t until about 7. Then, first serve in the championship match was about 20 minutes after Montezuma vs. HLV finished.
There were no complaints; that’s just the way it is. The key is to earn the top seed, which Belle Plaine clearly did with is 22-8 record coming in.
“We looked tired against Belle Plaine in the first set,” Burgess said. “We got our second wind in the second set.”
That one was pretty close, Belle Plaine winning 25-21. “We just couldn’t get a few smart plays to fall into place,” Burgess said. “There was so much growth in our serve placement; so many good things.”
The Bravettes served 69-for-75, a solid .920 percentage, with six aces.
Katie Reynolds was 20-for-20 with an ace. She also had 19 assists and six digs.
Shanae Wetering led the Bravettes with 14 kills.
Ash Krousie had 10 kills, four digs, an assist, a block, and was 11-for-12 serving with one ace.
Allyson Larmore had three assists, four digs, and was nine-for-11 serving with a pair of aces.
Montezuma went to 12-6 overall.
“It was a fun night of volleyball,” Burgess said.
“I know the ladies are disappointed, but there were only two teams that went undefeated on their own side of the conference and only two teams that played for the conference championship. We were one of those teams,” Burgess said.
“Hopefully, the girls are willing to apply what they learned and keep moving forward,” the coach added. “Monday starts the post-season tournament and I’m excited for them to get to host Iowa Valley.”
UP NEXT – Iowa Valley, in the Class 1A Regional, on Monday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. – in Montezuma.
Stats vs. Belle Plaine
Kills – Shanae Wetering 14, Ash Krousie 10, Dylan Holland 8, Korrinn Kehoe 5, Katie Reynolds 1.
Assists – Reynolds 19, Allyson Larmore 3, Wetering 2, Krousie 1.
Blocks – Holland 1, Krousie 1.
Digs – Reynolds 6, Larmore 4, Krousie 4, Wetering 3, Kierstyn Price 3, Kehoe 2, Holland 2.
Serves – Reynolds – 20-20 with one ace; Wetering 14-15 with one ace; Krousie 11-12 with one ace; Larmore 9-11 with two aces; Price 6-7 with one ace; Holland 5-5, Kehoe 4-5.