Warriors survive red scare

KEOSAUQUA - The Cardinal Comets gave No. 8 Van Buren quite the sweat on Monday night during the Class 2A regional quarterfinals, but the top-seeded Warriors had just enough in them to win it in five.

After seeing Cardinal storm back from down 2-0 and steal games 3-4, Van Buren laid the hammer down in the deciding fifth to take the match 25-11, 25-11, 21-25, 24-26, 15-3.

It was looking like a quick sweep for the orange and black through two-and-a-half sets. The Trojans used five kills from Taryn Scheuermann and four from Selena Sayre to roll in game one, 25-11. Sayre and Grace Davison had six kills apiece in game two, and the Warriors took it by the same score and grabbed what look to be a commanding 2-0 lead.

'That's the nice thing about volleyball,” said Cardinal coach Jerald Harter. 'You can get your butts kicked for two games and all of the sudden it's 0-0 again.”

Cardinal didn't immediately get things going in the third. Sayre and the Warriors rolled out to a 5-1 lead after six points and stretched the lead to as much as eight points, at 16-8. The Comets began to punch back midway through the set, though, and it was about to be a much longer night than the Warriors anticipated.

Cardinal scored seven of the next 10 points to get within one, at 19-18. Van Buren was the first to 21, at 21-19, but the Comets scored the final six points of the set to steal it 25-21.

'Our little freshman (Kinsey Hissem) came in,” Harter said. 'She hasn't played much all year, but she has gotten better at practice every day. When things aren't going your way, you have to throw in as many bullets as you can, and she sparked us in games three and four.”

Hissem and Maddie Cloke each had four kills in the third set. Hissem had a big ace, and after three, it was a whole new ballgame.

Van Buren started well again, getting back up 5-1 in the fourth set. The Warriors stretched the lead to eight once again, at 20-12, but a huge serve streak from Lydia Moses put the Comets right back in it.

'Moses had to have served 10-in-a-row back there,” said Van Buren coach Matt Zeitler.

Close, she served nine. Nine straight points that gave Cardinal a 21-20 lead, stunning the Van Buren players and crowd.

The teams were tied at 21-21, 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24 at the end of the game. Cardinal had the last two punches, with Kiya Chapin and Cloke scoring points 25 and 26 to send the game into the fifth set.

As Van Buren players huddled up before the decider, Coach Zeitler's message was simple.

'(I said) if you're a better team than them, you better go out and show it,” Zetiler said. 'And I thought they did.”

Scheuermann had two kills right off the bat and three total in the fifth set. Van Buren once again led 5-1, but this time they didn't give it up. Sayre got red-hot down the stretch with five dagger kills and the Warriors survived to play another day.

'Who knows,” said Zeitler. 'That might have been our toughest game.”

The Warriors were led by Sayre's 27 kills and Sayre's 12. Cardinal was paced by 15 from Cloke.

Cardinal ended their season at 15-14. Van Buren is now 30-4 and will host Pella Christian in the regional semifinals on Thursday, Oct. 31.