Saints exorcise Demons

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Cedar Rapids Xavier is Class 4A's second-ranked team for a reason.

Against Washington Tuesday in a Region 8 semifinal on their home floor, that reason seemed to be the Saints' serving ability.

Xavier landed 18 aces in the 25-2, 25-4, 25-10 victory and numerous other serves created trouble on the Demons' side of the net.

'I had harped on them in our practices that we had to be consistent on our serve receive,” Washington coach Lexa Mahr said. 'We have to take advantage of the first opportunity and get that ball down. When we had a bad pass, there was no way we could be aggressive enough to score against them.”

The first set was tied at 1-1, and by the time Alexa Mitchell got a kill for the second Demons' point, the score was 18-2.

'I knew that because of the caliber of their conference, they were good,” Mahr said.

In the second set, Xavier had a 10-0 lead before Washington had a prolonged rally. Addison Six recorded a kill for the Demons for a 19-3 deficit.

'I think that anything can happen on any given day,” Xavier coach Austin Filer said. 'Washington has had a good season and they are obviously in a very different conference than we are. We see some great teams and we do a lot of traveling. So our kids have been here before. I think the moment was a little bit too big for them. I know they worked hard this season and they should be proud of that.”

'I have repeatedly told the girls that I care what they do, not what the other team does,” Mahr said. 'You are my girls, not them. We are going to worry about what happens on our side of the net.”

Xavier has a 26-8 record and two of the losses were to teams from Illinois and one was to a team from Kentucky. They are in the same conference (Mississippi Valley) as Class 5A's top-ranked Cedar Falls (43-0).

'We like to dig ourselves a hole,” Mahr said. 'Unfortunately you cannot dig that big of a hole against that good of a team, or any team for that matter. I thought that we showed up at times in a rally and other times it was total chaos on our side.”

The Demons showed some life in the third set with a Kill by Olivia Pacha for the first point, trailing 4-1. Gracie Greiner scored at 11-3. Six played an ace at 15-5 and Phelan Hostetler connected for a 16-6 deficit. Isabel Bailey scored the last offensive point at 19-8.

Mahr knew before the match that Xavier was strong at the service line and formulated a plan.

'I had told them we were going to switch every single time if we don't get a good serve receive pass,” Mahr said. 'If they don't get the serve receive, then I'm going to send somebody else in.”

Kinsey Duwa had seven digs for Washington.

'It was emotional in the locker room afterwards because our seniors are a big, big part of this team,” Mahr said. 'I'm proud of who they are as people and proud of who they are as athletes. They have left a big mark on Washington volleyball. There are younger girls that look up to them and want to have fun playing volleyball because of them. We have started to win games and that is not because of me, that is all them.”

Washington finishes with an 11-19 record, which is the first time since 2012 that there was a double-digit win total.

'The seniors are going to be missed,” Mahr said. 'They have started something and we want to keep moving forward. We want to be the conference champions. We are going to keep getting better.”