Timberwolves one step from state

STANTON — Southwest Valley swept a Stanton team Monday that had pushed them to five sets in a tough battle Sept. 26 in Corning.

The 25-22, 28-26, 25-20 win puts Southwest Valley among the final 16 teams left in Class 1A. The 13th-ranked Timberwolves (30-3) play at 7 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) against No. 7-ranked Janesville (23-17) in the Class 1A Region 6 championship at North Polk High School in Alleman.

The winner advances to the state tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville. Class 1A quarterfinals are played in the evening on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Southwest Valley has never played in the state volleyball tournament as a combined school of the Corning and Villisca districts.

Stanton served as the host for Monday’s regional semifinal as the higher-ranked team (12th) when pairings were announced, compared to No. 14 for Southwest Valley, the Pride of Iowa Conference champion. In the previous head-to-head meeting, the Timberwolves edged the Viqueens 3-2, taking the fifth set by a 16-14 score.

Southwest Valley established control early in Monday’s encounter, bolting to a 13-3 lead in the opening set. Class 1A kills leader Lauren Johnson (463 kills) led a Stanton comeback that closed it to 16-10 and 23-21 on Bree Mitchell’s ace serve.

With the Timberwolves clinging to a 24-22 lead, Ray Helvie smacked one of her team-high 12 kills to finish the set at 25-22.

“We had a lot of focus at the start, but them we let them come back on us,” Southwest Valley coach Lisa Sparks said. “We knew that we could drop a set real quick if we didn’t play well. Lauren Johnson is a very good player for them. We worked a lot on our defense last week because we knew we’d have to play good defense tonight. Ray Helvie owned the net. She got touches on balls that helped slow down ball and allow us to play a strong offense.”

Maddie Bevington finished with a team-high 21 digs for the Timberwolves. Katey Lillie and Marley Gray each had 18 digs and libero Ada Lund added 14. Lillie also had 11 kills and reached the career milestone of 500 kills during the match.

Stanton’s Johnson had a match-high 15 kills in the loss, but the Viqueens had trouble defending Southwest Valley’s multiple weapons at the net. Behind Helvie’s 12 kills and 11 by Lillie, Gray chipped in 10 kills and Mackenzie Fast added seven.

“We worked on getting touches on Johnson’s hits and we really concentrated on our passes to give (setter) Morgan Shuler options in our offense,” Sparks said. “When we can keep it in system and have two or three options to go to in the front row at any one time, that helps their defense not to get set up so quick. Morgan is really good at reading where the defense is setting up and where we should go with the ball.”

Pivotal second set

That balance came in handy in a grueling set two, finally won by Southwest Valley 28-26 on Fast’s tip that Stanton failed to return.

Johnson’s kill had put Stanton ahead 25-24 at game point for tying the match at 1-1. Shuler then set up Helvie, a 6-foot sophomore, for two successive kills to push the Timberwolves in front 26-25. Johnson again answered for Stanton to make it 26-26 before Southwest Valley gained the final two points for the 2-0 match lead.

The Timberwolves had to rally from behind again in set three, trailing by scores of 4-0 and 12-7 before finally pulling even at 13-13. Gray pounded two straight kills to ignite a three-point service run by Shuler. Lund had a critical save on the back row to keep the point alive when Bevington’s tip gave Southwest Valley a 23-16 lead. Marley’s kill to make it 25-20 sent the team and large Southwest Valley fan base in the east bleachers into a celebration.

“I think they must like the thrill of having to come from behind, but it’s not my choice!” Sparks said. “It was big to win that second set, because you don’t want the other team to have momentum going into that third set. (In a late timeout) I told the girls, ‘Give me some grit and let’s win this set and not waste our energy.’ We did a good job of limiting our mistakes.”

In the next matchup, Southwest Valley meets a higher-ranked team for the first time in postseason play. Sparks said the team is excited about the opportunity. She said the team is playing its best volleyball, dropping only one set in the month of October, in a 3-1 win over Creston on Oct. 8.

“We have nothing to lose,” Sparks said. “We are the underdog. We’ll go up there to play our game and see what we can do.”

SW Valley statistics

Kills — Ray Helvie 12, Katey Lillie 11, Marley Gray 10, Mackenzie Fast 7.

Digs — Maddie Bevington 21, Lillie 18, Gray 18, Ada Lund 14, Fast 10.

Setting assists — Morgan Shuler 35.

Blocks — Helvie 2, Gray 1.

Ace serves — Lund 1, Shuler 1, Lillie 1, Bevington 1.