(Coralville, IA) — In a dramatic 5 setter, Riverside beat North Tama 3-2 in the first round of the Class 1A state volleyball tournament. Bulldogs win 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 15-11.
It was a game of backs and forths, ups and downs, downs and ups, and a wild roller coaster ride.
In the first set, Riverside led 11-9 but after a sideout, Kylie Calderwood took over the serve and scored 5 points to give the Redhawks a 15-11, it was a lead they would not give up. Kruiz Ewoldt had 8 kills in the first set for North Tama.
The Redhawks took an early 8-2 lead in the set #2 but the Bulldogs would slowly come back — at one point there was six consecutive back to back sideouts and the Bulldogs trailed 20-16 but Elly Henderson got the serve and got an ace. Ewoldt would finally mishit one and was held to just 2 kills in the set. Bentley Rone dominated the end scoring the final 4 points of the set.
With the score tied at 1-1, the Bulldogs led early in set #3 9-3, then pushed it to 17-7. Then Calderwood got the serve and North Tama scored 10 of the next 12 points to cut it to 19-17. Lilli Reed got a kill for a sideout but North Tama got the serve back and an Ewoldt served the Redhawks to a 21-20 lead. North Tama won some key points down the stretch for a comeback set win and a 2-1 advantage.
Riverside’s backs were up against the wall and they responded in set #4. Leading 13-10, it was Henderson who took the serve and rattled off five straight points — Sophia Taylor would get three kills in a row and the Bulldogs led 19-10. Ewoldt would serve North Tama back into the set with 3 points to cut it to 21-15. After a key sideout, Rone would serve an ace, Taylor got another kill and Riverside closed out the set.
In the 5th set, Riverside got a key block to make it 3-1. Ewoldt made a key mishit on a sideout to Riverside to make it 6-2. It was Reed’s turn and she got back to back kills to make it 9-5. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 13-9 and Ewoldt got 2 more points on serve to close the gap. But the Bulldogs got a sideout with a Rone kill and won match point on a hit attempt by Ewoldt that was wide.
Stats for Riverside: Sophia Taylor 17 kills; Bentley Rone 13 kills, 22 assists, 12 digs; Elly Henderson 12 kills, 13 digs; Sydney Somers 8 kills; Madison Kelley 6 kills; Ashley Kelley 13 digs, 22 assists; Ayla Richardson 19 digs; Sophia Fenner 11 digs
Stats for North Tama: Kruiz Ewoldt 26 kills, 3 aces, 21 digs; Lily Sell 13 kills; Addison Hochstetler 25 digs
Riverside improves to 39-3 on the season and will play Ankeny Christian in the 1A Semifinals on Wednesday, first serve at 6 pm, coverage on KSOM.
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Senior Elly Henderson
Junior Bentley Rone
Head Coach Brooke Flathers
