EG Beats PC; Ups Mark to 4-3

HAWKETTES NOW 1-1 IN ROLLING HILLS CONFERENCE

East Greene rolled over Paton-Churdan in three straight games on Thursday, Sept. 2, to up its season record to 4-3 and even its Rolling Hills Conference mark at 1-1.

The 25-10, 25-19, 25-16 win was the first head-to-head conference competition between EG and PC since 2007, when both teams were members of the West Central Conference. The two teams had met earlier this season at a tournament in Coon Rapids, where the Hawkettes prevailed in a best-of-three match, 21-15 and 21-17.

Last week’s conference tilt at Churdan saw the Hawkettes make a solid showing at the net with 18 kills in 66 attempts and 9 errors. Molly Neese, middle hitter, and Tia Lowe, outside hitter, led the charge. Neese was 5 of 21 with 2 errors and Lowe was 6 of 20 with 2 errors. Middle hitter Chelsi Wilkens had a strong showing with 4 kills in 13 attempts and two errors.

Katlynn Gannon led in digs with 15 and Neese had 12. The Hawkettes had some trouble at the service line however, connecting on just 65 of 75 for 60%, but they did score 10 aces. Jasmine Kinney went 27-28 with 4 aces and Neese was a perfect 18-18 with 3 aces.

EG opened conference play two nights earlier, Tuesday, Aug. 31, against Orient-Macksburg in Rippey. The visitors went home with the win, 18-25, 25-17, 26-25, 25-18.

The Hawkettes opened the season on a bright note on Thurs., Aug. 26, when they squeaked out a win over Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside) in Rippey that was extended by extra points in the fifth and final set in the best-of-five-sets match. EG came back nicely after winning the first set and then dropping the next two. The final match tally was 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 27-25, 19-17.

The following Saturday, EG went on the road to Coon Rapids where they went 2-2 on the day, finishing second in their pool play and advancing on to the semifinal round. Along with the win over PC, the Hawkettes downed Ankeny Christian 21-8, 21-11 and fell to Coon Rapids-Bayard, 21-12, 21-12 in pool play to advance to the semifinal round along with CRB, Adair-Casey and Iowa Christian Academy.

All matches in pool play and the championship round (semifinal and final matches) were best of three. The No. 1 team in each pool was matched against the No. 2 team of the opposite pool. Adair-Casey eliminated EG 25-23, 25-21 to advance to the championship match against Iowa Christian, a 25-22, 25-18 winner over Coon Rapids-Bayard. Adair-Casey went home with the trophy with a 19-25, 25-21, 15-11 win over Iowa Christian in the final.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The tournament in Coon Rapids offers a good snapshot on the overall volleyball season and how it might unfold in the weeks ahead. CRB has had great success in past years, advancing to state and winning a West Central Conference crown, while EG entered the tournament as the defending champs but looking at many holes to fill in its lineup. CRB was ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll.

Iowa Christian returned four starters this year, led by junior Karlie Schut, an all-district and all-conference pick last year as a sophomore, so it was not that surprising when the Blazers upended CRB in the tournament semifinals. The Crusaders were coming off a 20-10 season and a fifth-place showing (5-4) in the West Central in 2009, a year beyond winning the league at 9-0 and then winning the regional to advance to state.

The big surprise though is Adair-Casey. The Bombers tied for third at 6-3 in the RH last year, but it was pretty much expected they would fall in line again this year behind ICA and especially the combined EHK/Exira squad, considering that Exira had won the league on its own last year with an unblemished mark.

Not the case, though, as AC took the title at the CRB tourney and is still undefeated on the season at 7-0, and tied for first place in the RH.

All three teams are making their mark on the area and state. AC is ranked No. 9 in Class 1A by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union while ICA is 14th and CRB is 15th.

The irony here is that in the last few years, the Rolling Hills has typically had a ranked team in volleyball and basketball (usually Exira) while the West Central has had several teams ranked in either 1A and 2A (often both) in basketball and softball, and one or two in volleyball — usually more than the RH has no matter what the sport. And now the first year that EG moves to the Rolling Hills and in its very first sports season there — two RH teams are ranked!....and just one from the West Central. Go figure. Unlucky break or spirited challenge?

Either way, coach Carly Tiffany is doing a great job of blending her five senior veterans with younger players Wilkens, a freshman, and sophomores Tori Lowe, Brittany Gunn and Liz Gunn.

After the CRB tournament, it’s clear that AC and ICA are the leading contenders for the conference crown. The real surprise is the new super-sized Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira squad, which went winless in four matches in the CRB tournament in addition to dropping a non-conference match to CRB the following Monday. EHKE lost the 7th place match to Ankeny Christian to finish last in the eight-team CRB tournament. PC lost to St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) in the fifth place game, to finish the day 1-3 and in sixth place in the tourney.

EHKE has come back, however, to win its two first conference tilts over Walnut and Paton-Churdan and a non-conference match against AHST (Avoca).

Rolling Hills Conference Standings
(Records through Saturday, Sept. 4, Conf./NonConf.)
Adair-Casey 2-0, 7-0
Iowa Christian Academy 2-0, 5-2
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 2-0, 3-5
East Greene 1-1, 4-3
CAM (Anita) 1-1, 1-1
Orient-Macksburg 1-1, 1-1
Ankeny Christian Academy 1-1, 2-4
Glidden-Ralston 0-2, 2-7
Paton-Churdan 0-2, 1-5
Walnut 0-2, 1-8