New London takes battle of Tigers

NEW LONDON — New London has been one of the top volleyball teams in the Union area all season long and is one of the favorites out of Class 1A’s Region 7 bracket.

After a 3-0 sweep of Hillcrest Academy round one of the regional bracket, the Tigers of New London continued their postseason journey on Wednesday night with yet another sweep, this time blistering the Tigers of Iowa Valley in three straight set, 25-9, 25-13 and 25-9.

New London left no doubt of who was the top Tiger teams in the quarterfinal matchup as New London came prepared.

“Our message has been that every game could be our last game,” New London head coach Jackie Housman said. “We have a lot of seniors on the team and I want them to play like it’s their last game every time. I want them to have fun and I want them to play good volleyball and aggressive volleyball. They’ve been doing beautifully already.”

The Tigers jumped out to big leads in each of the three sets and never looked back.

In set one, the Tigers lept out to a quick 9-1 lead and it only got bigger for New London. The Tigers eventually made it 11-1, 15-4 and 22-7 to put Iowa Valley away in the opening set.

Set two was more of the same.

New London junior Sophie Malott, took seven straight serves from the line and that turned into a 7-0 lead for New London as the Tigers of Iowa Valley struggled to contained the New London attack, which was led by senior Natalie Burden.

“All of our hitters are hitting different spots and not just doing the same thing over and over” Burden said. “Our serve and receive is probably one of our best attributes.”

The rest of the way out the Tigers never trailed by more than five and led as much as 12.

In the third and final set of the night, New London once again jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Iowa Valley answered with two straight to make it 5-2, but that’s as close as they would come as New London scored five straight once again to make it 9-3.

Iowa Valley never got more than two points in a row throughout the rest of the match as New London cruised to victory.

“It feels good,” Burden said. “If we keep our energy up I think that will help us. We play down when we don't have energy.”

New London (27-9) moves on to the semifinal round against Belle Plaine (26-11) on Monday. The Tigers will host the Plainsmen.