Shields’ service game leads Mount Ayr to home volleyball win

MOUNT AYR — Mount Ayr’s Kelcie Shields was a bit nervous about her setting at the start of this season.

The Raiders senior has settled into a rhythm behind the end line.

Shields’ serving was a powerful weapon for their Raiderettes as they swept Southwest Valley in three straight games Tuesday in Pride of Iowa Conference volleyball.

Shields was 18-of-19 serving with six aces.

“She does a great job with her jump serve,” said Mount Ayr coach Tori Braby. “At the beginning of the season, it made her a little nervous. Once she got the nerves out of her, she’s on with that serve.”

Shields had several long service runs in the first and second games to help Mount Ayr pull away.

“She keeps rolling with it and has gotten way better at it than last year,” Braby said.

Shields’ serving kept Southwest Valley at bay for much of the match.

“Every time just when we were getting back into it ,then she goes back to serve then we get behind four, five points,” said Southwest Valley coach Lindsay Wetzel. “Then we dig out of the hole and have to come back.”

Shields was on serve for six straight points late in game one as Mount Ayr turned a 16-15 edge into a comfortable 21-15 margin.

In the second set, a long service run by Shields helped the Raiderettes turn a 15-13 lead into a 22-16 edge.

Southwest Valley tinkered with its lineup prior to Tuesday’s match. The move from a 5-1 to a 6-2 worked well for the Timberwolves.

“We’ve been trying to figure out what works lineup-wise, whether we want to run a 5-1 or a 6-2,” Wetzel said. “We went with a 6-2 and that worked better for us.”

The 6-2 allows the Timberwolves to be more diverse offensively.

“That works better for us, better on creating options and having a better blocker on that right side,” Wetzel said.

Southwest Valley showed some good fight in game three. Mount Ayr had the lead by as much as seven, 17-10. The Timberwolves steadily clawed back, eventually taking a 24-22 lead.

Mount Ayr responded with two straight points to tie the game at 24-24. A Jacy Schafer kill gave Southwest Valley at 25-24 lead.

“We were fighting for every point, which we haven’t done in our first two games,” Wetzel said. “That was good to see. One point one way or another and we win that third game.”

The Raiderettes had one more answer. A kill and an ace serve by Keirston Klommhaus gave the Raiderettes a 26-25 lead. An Alyssa Johnson block secured Mount Ayr’s win.

Mount Ayr had the home faithful cheering plenty loud in game three, an encouraging sign for the program.

“It is a nice win, especially in front of our home crowd,” Braby said. “We’ve been working to get our crowd. I told (the team) we need to give them something to keep coming back for. We finally got the crowd here, now we need to show them why they need to come back. We got the job done. It was an exciting finish for them. It got the crowd in it.”

Tuesday’s match was the first this season for Braby. She missed the team’s first two outings after giving birth to a girl Rylann on Aug. 25.

Young Rylann was on hand for the match, albeit sleeping most of the match.

The team embraced having their coach back.

“I got into a rhythm and the girls got used to me being back for some normalcy,” Braby said.

Shields finished with 15 kills and seven blocks to lead the Raiders. Tessa Shields and Klommhaus each had seven kills Johnson had 15 assists and Macy Larsen added nine assists.

Danica Sunderman had five kills and eight digs four Southwest Valley. Jacy Schafer had four kills. Hailey Thomas had eight assists, while Alaina Currin dished out six assists. Kiara Roberts had 13 digs, while Katie Taylor added seven digs.

UP NEXT — Mount Ayr improved to 5-0. The Raiderettes are back on the court Thursday at Wayne.

Southwest Valley fell to 0-3. The Timberwolves are at Martensdale-St. Marys Thursday.