Rebels stave off Cougars to return to 1A title game

CORALVILLE – Wednesday night was the fourth meeting this season between Gladbrook-Reinbeck and AGWSR’s volleyball teams.

G-R head coach Paula Kelley just didn’t think there was any use looking at any of that old film.

“They’re a different team than when we last played them,” Kelley said.

The Cougars beat back the Rebels’ attempt at a semifinal sweep, and G-R had to rally in set four to finally end AGWSR’s underdog run in the state tournament, securing a four-set victory and advancing to Thursday’s Class 1A Championship.

G-R won 25-17, 25-14, 20-25, 25-18. The Rebels (34-9) will play Ankeny Christian (38-3) in the 1A title game at the Xtream Arena with a 7 p.m. start time. It’s G-R’s second appearance in the state title game in the last three seasons. AGWSR bows out at 19-24.

“I’m so proud of each and every girl on this team,” G-R senior Ava Wyatt said. “I can’t wait to get to experience another championship game with this team and hopefully it’ll go our way this time.”

The Rebels looked to be well on their way in the first two sets. G-R surrendered the first point of set one, then scored the next five and never trailed again. AGWSR led 7-4 in set two, then the Rebels uncorked a 10-2 run to take control.

“We’ve talked really well on the court,” Kelley said. “Once we do that, our passes are there, and once our passes are there, we can set up any hitter that we want and have success.”

The Cougars found their opening in the third set, scoring 10 in a row to jump ahead 13-9. G-R was within 21-19, but a couple AGWSR aces put the Cougars on the doorstep and they punched through to force a fourth set.

“We missed a couple of serves in there and then just got off on our passing,” Kelley said. “They really targeted a couple players and they just weren’t able to get that pass up. Once we were able to get out of that set, we talked in the back about how they just needed to play the way we’ve been practicing.”

G-R started with a 10-4 spurt, but AGWSR evened it up at 10-all. A couple of hitting errors hurt the Cougars chances of overtaking G-R in that fourth set, and a 5-1 run that included three Cougar errors gave the Rebels the necessary cushion.

“We watched their game against North Tama, so that we could see the different things they had put in so that we could be prepared for that,” Kelley said. “They’re a fantastic team and we knew we couldn’t overlook them.”

Wyatt led the Rebels with 22 kills and 14 digs. Megan Cooley had seven kills and Emma McClintock and freshman Kennedy Brant each had five kills. McClintock distributed 35 assists to her attackers on Wednesday and added nine digs.

“I’m very proud of our underclassmen for stepping up,” McClintock said. “No one really expected us to make it this far, and I’m super proud of them.”

Wyatt added: “We put a lot of pressure on our underclassmen and they’ve made it really easy to trust anyone with the ball right now.”

Ankeny Christian is making its first state tournament appearance but made a statement with a straight-set sweep of top-ranked Springville in the semifinals.

For McClintock, Wyatt, and Cooley, the experienced seniors that have been in this situation before as sophomores, there was no other way they wanted their senior season to end than playing for a state title.

“The goal is to leave everything on the court,” Wyatt said. “It’s bittersweet to think that’s our last game ever, but it’ll be really special and we just need to leave everything out there and play the best we can.”