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VBC, WMU advance to SEISC finals
Warriors and Wolves prevail in round robin play
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Van Buren County volleyball punched its to the Southeast Iowa Super Conference Tournament finals after its second match in round robin play Thursday. The Warriors defeated Lone Tree 2-0 (21-11, 21-9) and Hillcrest 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) to secure its spot in Saturday’s finals and set up an opportunity to sweep pool play with a win in its final match against West Burlington.
The Falcons, who hosted the pool, also defeated Lone Tree and Hillcrest to secure a spot in the finals. They took the first set 21-15 over the Warriors in the final match of the night.
Van Buren County would not be denied, however. It stormed back in the second set and turned a 13-17 deficit into a 21-18 victory. The Warriors carried that momentum into the third set to win 15-8 to complete the sweep.
“My message to them in the huddle that second set was just to play together,” VBC coach Salena Sayre said. ‘“Have court chemistry and play together as a team and things will fall into place,’ and they certainly did for that second and third set.”
Along with a 3-0 result in SEISC pool play, VBC also avenged a narrow five-set loss to the Falcons earlier this season.
The Warriors will return to the SEISC finals after missing out in 2024. They reached the championship game in 2019 when Sayre was a senior on the team.
In New London, it was Winfield-Mt. Union that shined for the Union coverage area. W-MU won a three-set nail-biter against Danville 21-15, 10-21, 15-10 and then swept New London 21-11, 2-11 to earn a spot in Saturday’s dance.
“Our main problem on the season has been serving,” said headcoach Ashlei Venghaus. “We came out and we served well today.”
The Wolves even gave Holy Trinity Catholic a tough battle in the final game in pool play. W-MU flirted with stealing the first game before falling 21-16, 21-10.
“If we play our game and run offense and be aggressive, we can play with anyone,” Venghaus said. “I think we proved that to ourselves tonight.”
VBC will play Mediapolis in the first round of the SEISC Tournament finals. W-MU will take on Notre Dame.
Here’s the full slate for Saturday’s SEISC Tournament quarterfinals.
Holy Trinity Catholic vs. Central Lee - 5 P.M.
Mediapolis vs. Van Buren County (after HTC vs. Central Lee)
Winfield-Mt Union vs. Burlington Notre Dame - 5 p.m.
Wapello vs. West Burlington (after W-MU vs. Notre Dame)
