Iowa Valley volleyball notches first win

MARENGO — Iowa Valley volleyball took care of business against Montezuma Thursday, Sept. 7, in Marengo and notched its first win of the season. The Tigers won three of four sets on the night.

Iowa Valley (1-10) started hot and dominated set one by a 25-13 score. Montezuma (3-6) came back in set two to claim a narrow 25-23 win, but then the Tigers shut the door.

Iowa Valley came back with a 25-18 third set win before a nail-biter to finish off the match in the fourth. The Bravettes made the fourth frame interesting by sprinting ahead to a five-point lead late before the Tiger girls caught fire and went on a big run to seal the set win 26-24 and the match 3-1.

“The girls showed a lot of heart and determination in that match, being down 16-21 in the fourth set, but finishing the game with a 10-3 scoring run to get the win. The energy our team and fans brought to that match really fueled that comeback,” said Iowa Valley Head Coach Ross Karsten.

“We hope to bring that energy and fire to our future matches.”

Iowa Valley had 41 assists for the match, lead by Junior Izzy Kriegel’s 35. Junior Maddie Ray had 11 of the Tiger’s 44 kills. Defensively, Junior Lydia Kriegel had two blocks, and Senior Lola Frimml recorded 19 digs. Senior Kennady Rathjen lead the team with four aces.

Earlier in the week Iowa Valley hosted conference foe Lynnville-Sully (5-2). The Tigers won set one, but fell short the rest of the way, dropping the match 3-1.

Set scores were 25-20, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22.

“Both our matches this week were good tests for us to start our conference play,” said Karsten. “We saw some positives that we had been working on which was great to see. We made some adjustments after our loss against Lynnville-Sully, so it was nice to see the girls execute those on the court and come away with the win against Montezuma, who was very solid defensively.”

Season roundup through Sept. 10

Iowa Valley is 1-10 on the season with losses against mostly larger schools in best-of-three tournament settings — Grinnell, Carlisle, Fairfield, Mt Pleasant, Iowa City Regina, Belle Plaine, Vinton, West Delaware and Janesville.

Offensive team leaders through the early part of the season include Izzy Kriegel with 126 assists and Lydia Kriegel with 43 kills.

Defensively the Tigers have benefited from Lydia Kriegel’s 9 blocks, followed closely by Senior Ella Read’s 8. The digs leader is Lola Frimml with 66. Read leads the way serving with 11 aces.