Wolverines, Falcons bring rivalry to State court

CORALVILLE - Never before have Aplington-Parkersburg and Dike-New Hartford volleyball met at the State Volleyball Tournament. 

This changed Tuesday in the Class 2A State quarterfinals inside Xtream Arena, the Wolverines coming out on top 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-16) to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.

“These are two solid volleyball programs that both have a different history down here in the State tournament,” DNH coach Diane Harms said. “To be able to come down and represent the NICL with as many teams as we have down here is also so special. We came out with three hard-earned sets over A-P, and we knew they’d be a battle. Our girls did a really nice job today.”

A-P would make the first run of the afternoon, going 7-3 behind a big block from junior Zoey Uhlenhopp and a kill from senior Peyton Klooster, with some help from a flurry of early DNH errors. The Wolverines evened the playing field with a pair of aces from senior Izzy Norton and junior Abby Jensen. While the Falcons were able to keep the set close, DNH had established them offensively and a kill from freshman Aubrey Asche was the set point. 

“I honestly felt that our girls came in with a really good mindset, ready to go,” A-P coach Candace Kleespies said. “It was nice to play a conference opponent right away and have another chance at [DNH]. Our serve receive was strong to start and I felt that helped us weather runs at first.”

But Kleespies also noted serve receive is where the Falcons fell short in the next two sets. The Wolverines peppered the Falcons with 10 aces in total, and more getting them out of system. Offensively, the Wolverines found balance with the middle attack and outside to Izzy Norton. 

“We knew where our hitters wanted to hit,” Norton said. “A lot of deep shots. I think we did an excellent job of that. Most importantly, we played our game.”

Norton led the Wolverines offensively with 12 kills, senior Shannon Moorman 11 kills and junior Keely Kauten nine kills. Freshman Lucy Varney dug up 11 balls. 

The Wolverines (30-15) will face yet another NICL Central team in top-ranked Denver (45-3) on Wednesday at approximately 4:00 p.m. 

Full coverage of the State tournament will be published in next week’s Grundy Register.