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Raiders sweep PCM in regional quarterfinal
Set to face No. 10 Roland-Story in semifinals
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
WILLIAMSBURG — In control from start to finish. That describes the Raiders Tuesday night.
Behind a balanced, efficient offensive attack, Williamsburg swept PCM (23-6) in a Class 3A Region 5 volleyball match at home.
The Raiders took the three sets 25-16, 25-17 and 21-11.
“Huge credit to our passing,” outside hitter Kylee Suhr said. “Having those great passes gets us able to run our good offenses.”
Most of those direct passes came from senior setter Averi Nielsen, but the Raiders were also clean receiving serves most of the night.
The Raiders totaled 32 kills in the three sets, with six different players recording a kill.
In set one, the lead went back-and-forth in the early going. After an 8-8 tie, Williamsburg took the lead for good, outscoring the Mustangs 17-8 the rest of the way.
After a Jordyn Skaggs ace and Kylee Suhr kill in set two, the Raiders were off to a 4-0 start.
PCM tied it up at six with a Libby Winters kill. Leading 8-7 shortly after, the Raiders broke things open with a 10-0 run which included two separate spurts of consecutive kills from Skaggs.
The deficit got no smaller than six as sisters Clarissa and Kylee Suhr added three kills each in the set for the Raiders.
Set three was the Raiders’ most dominant, ending on a 17-4 run. The Raiders also added four of their seven aces in the final set.
The defensive game was also key for the Raiders in the win over PCM. Williamsburg had five blocks, and other near blocks disrupted attacks.
Kylee Suhr had four, a few coming against Winters, the Mustangs’ best attacker.
“Watching film and knowing their strong players and their positions where they hit the strongest from was key to set up our block,” Kylee Suhr said.
The Mustangs had only a short 3-0 spurt the entire match, which was key to keeping momentum on the Raiders side.
“We’re getting better at eliminating error runs,” coach Brittni Powell said.
In the balanced offensive attack, five players had four or more kills for the Raiders. Clarissa and Kylee Suhr each had eight.
“It’s super helpful to know we have more who can step up and put it down,” Kylee Suhr said.
“That’s what we need if we want to be successful,” Powell said.
Now the Raiders (21-10) set their sights on another matchup with a ranked team. They will travel to play No. 10 Roland-Story in the regional semifinals Thursday.
Williamsburg has come close several times to getting their marquee win over a ranked opponent this season. The Raiders will get another crack at it Thursday.
“We’ve come so close to ranked teams,” Powell said. “Hopefully this win pushes us into the next match.”
