(Greenfield) A successful year for the Nodaway Valley volleyball program has been cut short of their ultimate goals at the hands of 11th rated Van Meter. The Wolverines fell to the Bulldogs in a Class 2A regional semifinal via a 25-11, 25-19, 25-16 sweep.
Nodaway Valley’s year ends at 23-7 while Van Meter takes an 18-3 mark into Wednesday’s regional final round against #9 (26-5) Underwood.
Lexi Shike posted 16 assists and 12 digs in the loss. Corinne Bond had 10 kills and 6 digs. Maddax DeVault registered 7 kills and 10 digs. Natalie Yonker had 16 digs. Shike, Bond, and Yonker are three seniors that have all had a hand in re-writing the Nodaway Valley volleyball record book during their careers. Shike holds the career assists record, Yonker has more digs than any Wolverine in history, and Bond tops the school’s all-time chart for both blocks and kills.
Van Meter was in control the entire night. Nodaway Valley’s only leads of the contest were at 2-1 in the 2nd set and 3-2 in the 3rd set. The Bulldogs got a big night from sophomore Abby Matt with a strong supporting cast. Sydney Rainey, Zoie Vaught, Sami McDonald, and Sidney Nelson all had multiple kills on the night while 17 of Nodaway Valley’s 19 kills came from either Bond or DeVault.
After the match Nodaway Valley coach Allison Kiburz said, “I felt like we had glimpses. We had a game plan coming in and for the most part we capitalized on it. We knew that their backside was going to be hard hitters and they are hard hitters. They are competitors. As soon as we had a point they answered right back. Overall I would say we never quit and Van Meter is a good team. I think we did have a pretty quality performance, it just wasn’t in our cards.”
