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Washington defeats Columbus in four sets
Demons celebrates senior night with victory
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Washington volleyball made sure senior night wasn’t spoiled against fellow Union area side Columbus on Thursday. The Demons picked up a 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22) victory over the Wildcats.
Before the match, Washington honored its five seniors - Carys Miller, Lily Brown, Taylor Miksch, Leighton Messinger and Addison Miller. All five started and were on the court together for the Demons’ final two points.
The group nearly closed out the third set after it forced Columbus to take a timeout down 21-17. The Wildcats responded well, however, and went on an 8-0 run to snatch back the lead and extend the match.
Columbus seemed to carry that momentum with a 4-1 advantage to start the fourth set. But that would be the last lead they would hold as Washington quickly made it 5-4. The Demons extended its advantage to 15-9 and closed out the fourth set strong after Columbus cut the lead to 17-15 and 23-21.
“I think in the third set we just kind of got a little flustered,” Messinger said. “We’re doing a different rotation too, which is a little hard, but I think that overall in the fourth set we just really had to come together and play as a team and play for each other and kind of get get that flow back, and once we did, we were successful.”
Along with its seniors, Washington also celebrated Messigner surpassing the 1,000 career digs mark. The 2024 Southeast Conference Player of the Year also achieved 1,000 kills earlier this season.
Messinger added to both totals with 26 kills and 13 digs in the win. Miksch was also in double figures in both categories with 14 kills and digs each. Reagan Miller led the Demons with 30 assists while Carys Miller had 22. As a team, Washington connected on 93.7% of its serves, above its season average of 88%.
After a disappointing outcome in Keokuk at the SEC Tournament finals, Washington rebounded with Thursday’s win and a victory over over Fairfield in its last match of the tournament. Though it had no effect on Burlington taking the title, the Demons took the bounce back win as a promising sign for the postseason.
“After a loss that means something, you kind of come together over it,” Miksch said Thursday. “We all discussed what was going wrong, fixed it the next game and it was all just fun.”
Washington will start Class 3A Region 7 play at home against Benton at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The match will be streamed on the Southeast Iowa Live YouTube and Facebook pages.
Though Columbus came up short Thursday, the Wildcats were pleased with their performance, particularity in the third set. Coach Lori Beenen was impressed by her team’s connectivity both Thursday and throughout the season.
“They all know where each other is going,” Beenan said. “They know each other’s ranges and they know who’s trailing, who’s not, and it’s fun. In practice we work on that a lot, but it’s just fun to watch them.”
Senior Jessica Del Rio finished with a team-high 15 kills for the Wildcats. Kennedy Woepking had 13. Daniela Diaz set up Columbus’ attacks and tallied 35 assists.
The Wildcats also put in a strong team performance on defense. Four players were in double figures for digs, including Zai Par with 13. Del Rio and Woepking had 10 and 11, respectively.
Jocelyn Hernandez led Columbus with 20 digs, and played through a finger injury she suffered against Hillcrest Academy that effected her passing. Beenan praised Hernandez’s ability to adjust to a different technique as Thursday’s match went on.
“She’s a phenomenal back row player,” the Columbus coach said. “She just reads things. She understands things. She knows things.”
Columbus (10-15, 7-1 Southeast Iowa Super Conference North) improved from a 5-3 mark in league play last season and has won a combined 12 conference games over the past two seasons. The Wildcats managed 13 SEISC wins in the four seasons prior.
Like Washington, Columbus challenged itself with tough tournaments and non-conference matches to mold into the best version of themselves by postseason play. The Wildcats won their four previous matches before Thursday.
“We’ve been working and taking it one game at a time and one thing that we need to work on at a time,” Beenan said. “I think that’s really helped us and it’s built us up this year.”
