(Waukee, IA) — It was a battle of evenly matched teams but it was 9th ranked Aplington Parkersburg that knocked off #7 Riverside in a five set thriller on Wednesday night to advance to the 2A State Tournament.
The Falcons would survive two match points and beat the Bulldogs 21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-11 and 17-15.
A-P led in the first set 16-11 but Riverside scored 7 of the next 9 points to tie it at 17-17. Vivian Gross had a big kill for Riverside to lead 21-19. The Falcons fought back to tie it 21-21 but the Bulldogs got a side out and Bentley Rone added two kills down the stretch and 6 kills in the first set to win it. The final point of the set was a dramatic one where Sydney Somers saved the ball with one hand and Rone got a gamer winner.
In set two it was tied 5-5 and Julia Mostek of A-P got the serve and the Falcons scored 4 points to take command. Lilli Reed got 3 kills in 4 points to tie it 9-9. It was tied 15-15 and the Bulldogs got three straight to take an 18-15 lead. The Falcons came back to tie it 18-18. It was tied 20-20 when A-P earned a side out and got two big points including a kill from Adri Allan to lead 22-20. Riverside got a side out but A-P answered back and closed out the set.
Set three was back and forth and the Falcons led 20-18 when Riverside got a side out and Ashley Kelley earned 4 straight points. Somers got a huge 1 handed save for a point and Reed got a big block to lead 22-20 and Riverside was able to finish the set.
The Falcons dominated the 4th set — leading 10-8, they got a side out and Peyton Osterkamp rattled off 5 straight points to lead 16-9 and A-P never let up to force a 5th set.
Aplington Parkersburg led 5-2 early in the 5th but a Somers serve with an ace tied it at 5-5. It was tied 6-6, 8-8, 9-9, 10-10. After a Riverside side out, Somers got a big kill to make it 12-10 Bulldogs. Each team got a side out — A-P got a block to tie it at 13-13. Somers fired a big kill and Riverside had their first match point at 14-13. Jenzen Kooster answered with a kill to tie it 14-14. Lilli Reed got a kill to give the Bulldogs another match point at 15-14. Kooster would answer again with a kill to tie it 15-15. A-P would win the next two points on an out of bounds and a mishit by the Bulldogs.
Riverside ends their season at 39-1 while Aplington Parkersburg advances to the 2A state tournament at 28-10.
Bulldogs Stats
Sydney Somers 17 kills, 14 digs
Bentley Rone 12 kills, 28 assists, 14 digs
Lilli Reed 10 kills, 3 aces
Ashley Kelley 19 assists, 13 digs
Arabella Singleton 8 kills
Sophia Fenner 16 digs
