(Audubon, IA) — The Wheelers played at the top of their game against a tough Woodbine squad, taking the win in four sets (25-9, 25-27, 25-18, 25-10).
Audubon didn’t lose a sliver of momentum coming off Monday’s shutout against Heartland Christian, starting out the first set with 10 of the first 14 points scored. They got even hotter, with an 11-point rally served by libero Mackayla Zuniga to hand them set one.
In set two, the Tigers woke up. A lethal combination of kills and blocks from freshman Vanessa Blum and senior Isabell Crook gave Woodbine two seven-point rallies broken up by an Audubon side-out. Head Coach Molly Lange says that her Wheelers weren’t unfamiliar with this situation:
The third set proved to be the deciding factor in the match. Audubon came out of the huddle with eight of the first 10 points. Woodbine responded immediately with their third seven-point rally of the night. After some back-and-forth between both teams, the Wheelers took the edge with two five-point rallies spearheaded by Audubon kill leader Harlow Miller, who couldn’t stop finding gaps in the Woodbine defense. Miller says that everything was working well for her on her attacks:
The Wheelers ran away in the fourth and final set, where defense gave Audubon the edge. The Wheelers started the set with a five-point rally, and had another five-point rally late in the set. Woodbine had seven side-outs in the set, but they couldn’t manage to keep the ball on their side of the net. Audubon finished the match with a three-point rally to punch their ticket to the regional semi-finals. Lange was proud of how her team played on all fronts:
The Wheelers will travel to St. Albert on Monday for a chance at the regional finals.
