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MOUNT AYR — Mount Ayr wasted little time getting a packed crowd riled up here Tuesday, as the Raiderettes swept Pride of Iowa Conference rival Bedford in a Class 1A Region 3 quarterfinal.
The Raiderettes cruised to a 25-16, 25-19, 25-17 win over the Bulldogs.
The win improved Mount Ayr to 25-9 for the season and advances the Raiderettes to Friday’s regional semifinal in Bedford against Stanton, which was a 25-12, 21-25, 25-16, 25-21 winner Tuesday over Essex.
Bedford was able to slow up several Mount Ayr attacks early in the match, but the Raiderettes kept hammering away and finally broke through.
When Kelcie Shields pounded back-to-back kills in a 4-3 game, it ignited Mount Ayr. The Raiderettes went on to score 13 out of 16 points in building a 16-7 lead.
A Tessa Shields kill and Alyssa Johnson service ace capped the run.
“They tried to block her (Kelcie Shields) a little bit, but tonight she didn’t let it intimidate her and she kept hammering it at them,” Mount Ayr head coach Tori Braby said. “Eventually, they couldn’t get a hand on the ball. She just has to keep hitting.”
Keep hitting is exactly what she did. Shields ended with a match-high 18 kills, leading the Mount Ayr charge.
The Raiderettes took a commanding 17-8 lead in the second set on a Macy Larsen ace, but Bedford climbed back into the set, cutting it to 21-16 after a Rachel Armstrong ace and Callie Calfee kill.
But out of a Mount Ayr timeout, Sadie Frost delivered a kill and Kelcie Shields eventually gave the Raiderettes the set victory with a scorching kill to make it 25-19 after back-to-back aces from Bedford’s Makinna Russell.
“We knew we needed to attack 98 percent of the time,” Braby said. “A couple of times, they got back in the game with us, because we started pushing and we gave them some free stuff. Good teams like that, no matter what, you have to keep them on defense.”
On the other side, Bedford wasn’t making Mount Ayr’s defense scramble enough.
“I really feel like we just were holding back a little bit instead of going for it on our attacking,” Bedford head coach Deb Bonde said. “Sometimes with a group of seniors, they get a little bit of last game jitter kind of thing and start thinking about the past instead of the future.”
Mount Ayr quickly put Bedford behind the 8-ball in the third set, as Kelcie Shields smashed three kills within the first 10 points of the set, including one to make it 8-2 that sent the crowd into an uproar and caused Bedford to call time out.
Even though Kelcie Shields did much of the damage, Mount Ayr had solid contributions from Frost (five kills) and Tessa Shields (four kills). Setters Johnson and Larsen mixed the ball up just enough to keep Bedford off balance.
“I really do feel like they did mix it up quite a bit tonight,” Bonde said. “Kudos to them. We need to be ready on any given night for any attack and we fell a little bit short on that. I wish them the best of luck. I’d love to see a Pride of Iowa school go all the way.”
Bedford ends its season with a 28-16 record. It was the final match for six seniors. Seniors on the team were Armstrong, Callyn Bonde, Calfee, Alyssa Kuhn, Ashlyn Spencer and Palen Steam.
Mount Ayr, meanwhile, advances to play Stanton (21-15) at 7 p.m. Friday in Bedford. The Raiderettes defeated the Viqueens 2-0 at the Bedford Tournament earlier this season.
On the top half of the bracket, Sidney swept Nishnabotna and Fremont-Mills swept East Mills. Sidney (30-1) and Fremont-Mills (19-9) meet Friday in Sidney. The winner of that match and the winner of the Mount Ayr vs. Stanton match meet 7 p.m. Nov. 4 in Clarinda in the regional final.
Statistics
Serving (aces) — MA: Sadie Frost 7-8 (1), Blair Glendenning 12-12, Alyssa Johnson 9-12 (3), Macy Larsen 22-22 (2), Kelcie Shields 10-12 (1), Tessa Shields 5-7. B: Rachel Armstrong 8-8 (1), Callyn Bonde 8-9 (1), Callie Calfee 11-12 (3), Makinna Russell 8-9 (2), Ashlyn Spencer 7-7, Palen Steam 8-8.
Attacks (kills) — MA: Kelcie Shields 18, Sadie Frost 5, Tessa Shields 4, Kirsten Dolecheck 2, Blair Glendenning 1, Alyssa Johnson 1. B: Callie Calfee 7, Alyssa Kuhn 5, Palen Stream 4, Callyn Bonde 3, Rachel Armstrong 1.
Blocks (solo-assists) — MA: Sadie Frost 2-0, Alyssa Johnson 3-0, Kelcie Shields 2-1, Tessa Shields 1-1. B: Paige Oldenkamp 0-1, Palen Steam 2-1.
Setting (assists) — MA: Alyssa Johnson 15, Macy Larsen 13. B: Rachel Armstrong 17.
Digs — MA: Sadie Frost 20, Macy Larsen 11, Blair Glendenning 9, Tessa Shields 5, Alyssa Johnson 5, Kelcie Shields 4, Kirsten Dolecheck 3, Alex Booth 1. B: Ashlyn Spencer 18, Callie Calfee 7, Callyn Bonde 4.