Seniors show out at state

CEDAR RAPIDS - Not everyone gets to say they played their best game in their last time on the court. While the sixth-seeded New London volleyball team couldn't pull an upset in Tuesday night's Class 1A state quarterfinal, the team had the ability to show off its senior class.

New London has six seniors on the 2020-21 team, three of which saw the floor for the Tigers. Outside hitters Marah Hartrick and Sofie Reighard led the squad at the net, and libero Kyra Linkin had a strong night in the back row.

Hartrick and Reighard were huge on the right side, combining for 21 of the Tigers' 44 kills. Hartrick edged her senior teammate with 11 kills, best on the team and second best in the game, and Reighard ended the night with 10.

'We knew it was going to be a hard game,” said Reighard. 'We had a perfect game plan, and we did a great job of doing it. '

The Tiger trio has been a big part of the New London program, and the three have been on the varsity team for each of the last three years. After being knocked out in the regional final in each of the last two years, the New London seniors finally got to show their stuff on Tuesday night.

'When we started club in seventh-grade, Kyra was about 3-foot tall, a nd Sofie was this gangly left-handed person,” joked New London head coach Maureen Heath. 'Those kids are pretty special.”

Not everyone gets to play on the state tournament floor, especially out of a brutal region like southeast Iowa. The girls lived it up in their first time playing on the sport's biggest stage. 'I think we all felt it walking in, just hearing the crowd and seeing the players,” Hartrick said. 'We all knew we wanted to be on this court.”

The Tigers, of course, didn't have the easiest of matchups. By the time the quarterfinal between New London and Gehlen Catholic started up, Gehlen was the highest-ranked team left in the Class 1A field. No. 2 Wapsie Valley had to bow out due to a COVID-19 quarantine, and heavily favored No. 1 Janesville had been upset in four sets by Council-Bluffs St. Albert.

New London nearly dealt the bracket another blow. After trailing 1-0 and then 2-1 in sets, the Tigers battled back to force a decisive Game 5, one the Tigers led 3-2 and battled back to tie at 11-11 before the Jays scored four of the last five points to end the match, ending New London's season 25-19, 13-25, 25-18, 14-25, 15-12.

'Gehlen Catholic is an amazing team, and they played really well,” said an emotional Reighard. 'But we played really well too.”

In the three years that Reighard, Hartrick and Linkin were on the varsity team, New London went 35-5, 28-10 and 29-9 respectively. The state tournament berth was the cherry on top.

'We had so many chances in the last four years,” Hartrick said. 'We were so fortunate to be here, especially in our senior year.”

As the New London volleyball program moves on with a strong nucleus of young players, Coach Heath says it will be hard to replace the Class of 2021, which helped bring the team back to Cedar Rapids for the first time in six years.

'They're all such good kids,” Heath said. 'It's going to be really hard to see them go.”