Belle Plaine, English Valleys kick off big week

Belle Plaine swept the English Valleys volleyball team Sept. 18, but not without earning it. The Plainsmen (13-9) took set one 25-21, set two 25-22 and set three 25-22.

Belle Plaine was led on offense by Janessa Blome and her 14 kills and Layne McLeod’s 25 assists. McLeod also had four service aces.

Defensively, Alyssa Steinback recorded 14 digs.

English Valleys (9-7) got 11 assists from Delaney Hall, six kills from Imigyn Stratton and five aces from Kennedy Axmear.

The match kicked off a big week for both teams.

Belle Plaine

It took five sets, three of which required extra play, for Belle Plaine to knock off Sigourney Sept. 21.

The Plainsmen outlasted Sigourney (8-5) in set one and came away with the 29-27 victory. The intensity continued into set two, but this time the Savages came out on top 26-24.

Set three belonged to the home team as Belle Plaine cruised 25-11. Sigourney tied things up again in the fourth with a 25-21 win to set up the tiebreaking fifth set.

Belle Plaine took the set in overtime, 17-15, and iced the match with a 3-2 win. Jacey Reineke put away 21 kill shots, and Layne McLeod contributed 41 assists in the match for the Plainsmen.

Kayleah Laughlin added four assists, six blocks and five aces, plus 15 kills of her own.

On Saturday, the Plainsmen traveled to the South Tama Invite where they finished the day with a 2-3 record. Belle Plaine beat Perry and Waterloo East, both in two straight sets.

The other side of the coin resulted in losses to Grinnell, Mid-Prairie and the rematch with Waterloo East.

English Valleys

EV followed up its Monday battle with a trip to Columbus Sept. 19 for a triangular match. The Bears were up for the tight turnaround, proven by its 2-1 victory over host Columbus and 2-0 win over Louisa Muscatine.

Against Columbus (3-13), the Bears dropped set one 25-18 before regrouping to win the next two, 25-22 and 16-14.

Team stat highlights include Imigyn Stratton’s eight kills, Ada Mews’ 13 digs and Delaney Hall’s three service aces.

Louisa-Muscatine (0-13) fell to EV in straight sets, 25-18 and 25-22. Stratton added 10 more kills to her resume, and Hall knocked down seven more aces.

English Valleys wrapped its week by returning home and facing Tri-County (1-16) on Thursday, September 21. The Bears won in straight sets 25-19, 25-14, and a marathon third set 29-27.

Iowa Valley

Iowa Valley traveled to Sigourney Sept. 18 and came home empty-handed. Sigourney (8-5) won in straight sets 25-13, 25-23, 25-20.

Iowa Valley stats were not posted for this match at press time.

The Tigers (5-18) bounced back Thursday with a 3-0 straight sets win over a visiting Keota squad. IV won 25-19, 25-16, 25-22 to get the sweep over the Eagles (6-6).

Lydia Kriegel and Maddie Ray combined for 28 of Iowa Valleys 40 kills helped by Izzy Kriegel’s 30 assists. Defensively Lola Frimml notched 21 digs.

Saturday took the Tigers to Brooklyn for the BGM Invite. Iowa Valley started the day hot by beating Meskwaki Settlement (0-14) and Moravia (11-6), both in 2-0 straight sets. BGM (7-10) disrupted the Tiger momentum by defeating IV 2-0.

Meskwaki fell to the Tigers 25-13 and 25-9. Iowa Valley next faced Moravia and took care of business 27-25 and 25-18. BGM won the conference clash 25-17 and 25-21.

No individual stats were posted at press time.

HLV

HLV hit the road to Colfax Sept. 18 and came home with a 3-1 match win.

The Warriors (5-15) won sets one and two by competitive 25-22 and 25-21 scores before the Tigerhawks (3-9) rallied to claim set three 25-20.

That’s when HLV put things away with a deciding fourth-set win, 25-14.

Ema Roberts paced HLV with 19 kills, 2 blocks, 14 digs and 1 ace. Hailey Jack contributed 33 assists and 10 digs. McKenzie Kempf added four blocks and an ace serve.