Class 5A Championship
Waukee Northwest 3 Ankeny Centennial, 0 (25-10, 25-21, 25-18)
(Coralville) Top-ranked Waukee Northwest opened the Class 5A State Volleyball Tournament with a dominant straight-sets victory over Indianola, winning 25–17, 25–16, 25–12 Monday afternoon at Xtream Arena.
The Wolves, now 36–1 on the season, displayed balance and precision throughout the match, hitting .341 as a team and holding Indianola to a .024 attack percentage. The victory secured Waukee Northwest’s spot in the state semifinals.
Senior outside hitter Leah Janulewicz led the Wolves with 14 kills on an efficient .579 hitting percentage. Avery Cordes added nine kills on .615 hitting, while Logan Vogt contributed eight kills and four digs. Setter Avery Vogt guided the offense with 33 assists as Waukee Northwest controlled play from start to finish.
The Wolves’ front line made a significant impact at the net, recording 10 team blocks. Defensively, London Taylor anchored the back row with 10 digs as the Wolves limited Indianola’s scoring runs and converted 75 percent of their sideout opportunities in the second set.
Indianola (27–17), who defeating fourth-ranked Waukee in the regional final to advance to the state tournament, was led by Lauren Olson, who finished with seven kills, and Madison Grover, who added six. Julia McGraw tallied 11 assists, and libero Kennedie Rumley collected six digs to pace the Indians’ defense.
Waukee Northwest built momentum as the match progressed, hitting .192 in the opening set, .400 in the second, and .419 in the third. The Wolves’ consistency on serve and at the net proved decisive, while Indianola was unable to overcome an offense that converted nearly every key point down the stretch.
The win moves Waukee Northwest into the Class 5A semifinals at Xtream Arena, while Indianola concludes its season with a 27–17 record.
Class 5A All-Tournament
Logan Vogt, Waukee Northwest
Mya Lei Butters, Ankeny Centennial
Isabelle Kremer, Pleasant Valley
Kaelyn Wieland, West Des Moines Valley
Leah Janulewicz, Waukee Northwest
Tatum Schmidt, Ankeny Cetennial
Avery Vogt, Waukee Northwest (Captain)
Class 4A Championship
North Scott 3 Sioux Center, 1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-19).
(Coralville) McKenzie Moeller supplied the power and it was just what North Scott needed to win another state championship.
The 5-foot-9 senior with a super-charged swing pounded home 32 kills and the fifth-seeded Lancers bounced back quickly from a first-set loss to beat No. 2 seed Sioux Center 3-1 for the Class 4A volleyball title at Xtream Arena. North Scott prevailed on scores of 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-19.
It’s the third championship for the Lancers (27-10), who captured the 4A crown in 2023 and won the 2A title in a two-class tournament in 1985.
Moeller, who will play at Southern Illinois next season, amassed 90 kills in her three matches at state and was named captain of the all-tournament team. Teammate Addison Allen joined her on the honor unit after compiling 42 assists and 11 digs in the title match. She totaled 137 assists for the tournament.
Adalynn Johnson added 11 kills for North Scott and libero Ainsley Haedt had 17 digs. Moeller added 13 digs and a solo block to her line.
Sioux Center (30-5), finishing as the state runner-up for the second time in four years, got 18 kills from all-tournament selection Courteney Schmidt. Adison Brantsen added 12 kills for the Warriors and Avery Bitker contributed nine. Romee Bleeker and Taylor Holverson set up the Sioux Center hitters with 18 assists each.
Branstsen and Sioux Center’s Mary Franken also made the all-tournament team, along with Averie Lower of Clear Creek-Amana and Katie Scheckel of Pella.
Sioux Center fought off a late charge by North Scott to win the opening set, getting the winning point on a serving error after the Lancers had scored three straight points to draw to 24-23. Moeller rocked the Warriors with 10 kills in the second set, accounting for all the North Scott points in a 6-1 run that gave the Lancers the cushion they needed to hold on for the win and tie the match.
North Scott rallied from a 17-10 deficit to win set three, scoring the final four points to break a tie at 21. With the momentum on their side, the Lancers jumped to a 17-10 lead of their own in the final set and easily held on to claim the title.
4A All-Tournament Team:
Addison Allan, North Scott
Courteney Schmidt, Sioux Center
Katie Scheckel, Pella
Averie Lower, Clear Creek-Amana
Adison Brantsen, Sioux Center
Maryn Franken, Sioux Center
McKenzie Moeller, North Scott (Captain)
Class 3A Championship-
Davenport Assumption 3 Humboldt, 0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-22)
(Coralville) Size matters in some sports and it certainly did for Davenport Assumption volleyball.
The second-seeded Knights overwhelmed Humboldt with its height at the net and efficient middle hitting in sweeping the Wildcats 25-20, 25-17, 25-22 to win its second Class 3A championship in four years.
A pair of senior middle hitters, 6-foot-3 Ellah Derrer and 6-foot-1 Erin Robbins, powered the Assumption attack, with help from sophomore Belle Cotton on the outside and setter Carsyn Kelley getting them the ball in the right spot.
Derrer, who has committed to Kansas State, knocked down 16 kills and was named captain of the all-tournament team. A starter on Assumption’s 2022 title team as a freshman, Derrer finished the tournament with an even 50 kills.
Robbins and Kelley also were all-tournament, Robbins adding eight kills and four assists on blocks and Kelley compiling 36 assists to total 108 for her three tournament matches. Cotton added 11 kills and eight digs to the championship effort, while libero Piper Hodge collected 20 digs.
Fifth-seeded Humboldt, which had not won a state tournament match before this season, upset top-seeded Western Christian, a 19-time state champion, in the semifinals but couldn’t handle the varied attack that Assumption presented.
Still, it was a solid effort for the Wildcats (33-7), who made it to state for just the second time and were ranked from start to finish for the first time in program history.
Adelynn Goodell, a sophomore with a promising future, led Humboldt with 11 kills and was named to the all-tournament team. Setter Addie Waldorf racked up 29 assists and also earned all-tournament recognition. Mia Schluter added eight kills for Humboldt, while Kendall Works and Alivia Goodell, Adelynn’s sister, each had six.
Western Christian’s Morgan Kooiman and Kuemper Catholic’s Addy Anthofer completed the all-tournament team.
Class 3A All-Tournament Team
Erin Robbins, Davenport Assumption
Addie Waldorf, Humboldt
Addy Anthofer, Kuemper Catholic
Morgan Kooiman, Western Christian
Carsyn Kelley, Davenport Assumption
Adelynn Goodell, Humboldt
Ellah Derrer, Davenport Assumption (Captain)
Iowa Pork Producer Top Producer of the Game – Carsyn Kelley, Davenport Assumption
Class 2A Championship
Denver 3 Hinton, 2 (25-22, 26-28, 21-25, 25-18, 15-11)
(Coralville) Denver had to go to great lengths in a tension-filled match to repeat as the Class 2A volleyball champion.
The top-seeded Cyclones held on against the attacks of hard-hitting Bailey Boeve and beat Hinton in five sets to notch their 50thvictory of the season against only one loss. They did it by spreading the wealth among their hitters and getting another standout game from setter Channing Johnson, who was named the all-tournament captain.
The scores went 25-22, 26-28, 21-25, 25-18, 15-11. The Cyclones earned this one.
That offensive balance was needed to counter Boeve, a Creighton University recruit who pounded 38 kills, most of them absolute rockets, and came up with 13 digs. But it wasn’t quite enough and the third-seeded Blackhawks (30-3) finished as the state runners-up for the second time in three years.
Sophomore Adeana Murch led the Denver attack with 21 kills, while Mylee Thurm and Bailey Mullihan added 14 each. Johnson put together an impressive all-around line with 42 assists, six kills and 17 digs. She wound up with 113 assists for the tournament.
Thurm and Mullihan also made the all-tournament team, along with Boeve and Hinton’s Ellie Friessen, who had six kills, two solo blocks and five block assists. Boeve’s 38 kills were three short of the 2A tournament record that EBF’s Molly Shafer set last year. The Hinton star finished the week with a tournament-leading 96 kills.
Hinton rallied from a 13-5 deficit to win the second set, finishing it with three straight Boeve kills. The Blackhawks then charged back after trailing 15-10 to take a 2-1 lead in the match, but ran out of comebacks after that. Denver cruised to the win after building a 19-10 lead in the fourth set, then went ahead to stay in the decisive set with five straight points before Mullihan finished it off with a big hit.
Ryanne Brubaker from Grundy Center and Abby Jensen from Dike-New Hartford rounded out the all-tournament team.
Class 2A All-Tournament Team
Mylee Thurm, Denver
Ellie Friessen, Hinton
Bailey Mullihan, Denver
Abby Jensen, Dike-New Hartford
Ryanne Brubaker, Grundy Center
Bailey Boeve, Hinton
Channing Johnson, Denver (Captain)
Iowa Pork Producers’ Top Producer – Bailey Boeve, Hinton
Class 1A Championship
Saint Ansgar 3 Janesville, 1 (14-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20)
Check back for game summary
Class 1A All-Tournament Team
Jacey Johnston, Saint Ansgar
Quinn Sweeney, Janesville
Taylor Kipp, Dunkerton
Hayden Anderson, Janesville
Lindsay Kruse, Saint Ansgar
Tayah Pollock, Janesville
Sofia Parrott, Saint Ansgar (Captain)
Iowa Pork Producers Top Producer: Ava Falk, Saint Ansgar
