2023 state volleyball finals recap

CORALVILLE — With the completion of The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s State Volleyball Tournament on Thursday night, that means that the 2023 Iowa high school volleyball season in now complete.

Here we will recap the results all five of Thursday’s state championship matches.

This year the state tournament was one for the lower seeds, as just two No. 1 seed walked away with the state championship.

In the other three, a No. 3 seed or higher took the title.

Beginning in Class 1A, the fight for the crown featured No. 1 seeded Ankeny Christian (39-3) and No. 3 seeded Holy Trinity Catholic (33-11).

It was a tough end to a magical run for the final Southeast Iowa Super Conference team remaining as HTC was defeated by the Eagles in a sweep, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-17.

In Class 2A, No. 1 seeded Dike-New Hartford reigned supreme.

The Wolverines swept every opponent through the tournament, which ended with a dominant 3-0 victory, 25-14. 25-23 and 25-16 over No. 2 Hinton (32-2) in the title game.

D-NH ended the season as the only undefeated team in Iowa, a perfect 50-0.

In Class 3A, No. 1 Mount Vernon and No. 3 Western Christian had dominated the competition through the first two rounds, dropping just one set.

While the Mustangs were the favorite, it wasn’t their night for a title as the Wolfpack walked away with the hardware 3-1.

It was quite the battle between the two squads as three of the four sets were decided by three points or less.

Western Christian won 25-23, 22-25, 25-22 and 25-18.

The Class 4A state championship featured the lowest seed through all five classes in No. 4 North Scott.

The Lancers (29-4) took on No. 2 Indianola (38-5) in the final and were big winners in a 25-17, 25-16 and 25-12 sweep for the title.

It was a stellar run by North Scott as they defeated previously undefeated and No. 1 Clear Creek-Amana in the semifinals, 3-0.

Finally, in Class 5A the state title was taken by No. 3 Waukee Northwest (27-9) after a back and forth battle with No. 1 Dowling Catholic (32-8), 3-2.

Waukee Northwest took the first two sets, 25-22, 25-15 before Dowling stole two back 25-17, 25-19 to tie it at 2-2.

However, it was the Wolves taking it with a 15-12 fifth set victory.