HAWKETTES ADVANCE, NOW 14-6

EG Faces No. 12 Southern Cal in Regional VB Action

A win over Madrid in the second round of regional volleyball action last Wednesday has put EG into the quarterfinal round tonight in Lake City, where the Hawkettes will square off against Southern Cal, the 12th ranked team in Class 1A.

EG’s 25-17, 25-16, 25-16 regional win at Madrid on Wednesday was the its second straight win over the Tigerettes. EG had swept Madrid in three straight games the previous Thursday in Rippey in both teams’ final regular season match, 25-16, 25-16, 25-13. That capped off a busy week, as EG had downed Panorama in three straight on Tuesday, following a 2-2 showing in 4 matches at a tournament in Walnut on Saturday.

EG has now won 5 of its last 7 matches. The win over Madrid in Rippey moved the Hawkettes to 6-3 in the final West Central Conference standings, good for fourth place. Last week’s win over Madrid in the regionals upped EG’s overall season mark to 14-6.

Southern Cal brings a 21-0 record into tonight’s match. The Mustangs swept Paton-Churdan 25-16, 25-6, 26-24 in regional action at Lake City last Wednesday.

The winner of tonight’s EG-SoCal match will take on the winner of Ar-We-Va vs. West Harrison in the semifinal round Friday at Denison. The opposite side of the bracket has Exira, ranked seventh in the state, taking on Coon Rapids-Bayard in Coon Rapids. The winner of that match moves onto the other Region 3 semifinal on Friday in Woodbine against the winner of tonight’s Woodbine and St. Albert’s match in Council Bluffs.

The semifinal winners will face off next Tuesday in Denison in the regional final. The winner moves on to the State Tournament in Cedar Rapids.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: This is one of the best--if not the best--volleyball season in EG school history. Coach Carly Tiffany has the Hawkettes firing on all cylinders, as they beat 6 of 9 competitors in the West Central Conference in three-game sweeps (best-of-five game matches), and lost by just two points in the fifth game of a five-game match against league champion Guthrie Center, the closest any league team came to the Tigerettes. The Hawkettes also beat CRB--last year’s West Central champion and a 1A state qualifier--twice this season, the first win coming in the championship of a tournament hosted by CRB.

EG will meet a seasoned team in Southern Cal. Like the Hawkettes, SoCal plays in a league comprised of both 1A and 2A teams, where they finished second at 5-1, losing only to East Sac, a 2A team, but coming back to win the conference tournament. The Mustangs made it to State two years ago and just lost out on a trip last year, falling to Schaller-Crestland in the region finals.

Southern Cal and Exira (19-5), the Rolling Hills champion, are clearly the favorites in Region 3.

In addition to CRB in the opposite bracket in Region 3, the other top teams in the West Central are still in action heading into the quarterfinal round tonight. Each of the other top three teams is competing in different classes and regions, so conceivably the West Central could send four teams to the state tournament in 1A and 2A. Des Moines Christian (22-3), which finished third in the conference at 7-2, hosts Iowa Christian (14-10), the runner-up in the Rolling Hills Conference at 7-2 just behind Exira, with an unblemished 9-0 mark, in Region 4 in 1A. The winner advances to the semifinal round against either Twin Cedars or North Mahaska, also at Des Moines Christian. DMC had been ranked in Class 1A earlier this month, falling out of the Top 15 rankings, just before the final poll was released on Oct. 15.

In 2A, league champ Guthrie Center (17-6) and runner-up Woodward-Granger (19-7) are still in action, but both face tough opponents in the quarterfinal round tonight. Guthrie Center travels to Manning to take on 9th-ranked IKM-Manning (28-2) while Woodward-Granger also faces a state ranked opponent, No. 15, Gilbert (17-6), but has the home court advantage as the match will be played in Woodward. If Guthrie wins, it moves on to face either Nodaway Valley or Griswold in the Region 2 semifinal match, also at Manning. WG would advance to the next round in Eldora in Region 3 against the winner of a matchp between Grundy Center and Dike-New Hartford, a longtime state volleyball power and the No. 3 team in 2A with a 38-3 season record.