Saints push higher seed to five in state quarters
By Kristi Nixon
CORALVILLE — Start to finish, the fifth-seeded St. Ansgar volleyball team showed it wanted to make the first state appearance in 35 years a long one.
Coach Tyler Johnson’s Saints won the opener, took extra points in dropping the second and won the third, but eventually fell in five to fourth-ranked BCLUW on Tuesday, Oct. 31 during the Class 1A state quarterfinal at Coralville’s Xtream Arena.
With leadership from six seniors, including three starters, they started out strong in showing the state courts weren’t too big a stage for them in the 25-18, 27-29, 25-20, 16-25, 11-15 loss to the Comets, who were making their state tournament debut.
“We came into the state tournament ranked fifth and obviously being the underdogs in this game, but we knew we still had a chance, though,” said senior setter Aspen Falk, who tallied 38 assists. “I think we took advantage of that going into five. We couldn’t pull it off, but it was a really fun match and a really competitive team to play.
“Some things weren’t going as well as our last game. That’s okay – we needed to push through. But, other things did work well and I think we tried to match up with BCLUW as best we could and we put up a good fight.”
Johnson, who picked up his 300th career win earlier this season, said that his team showed it was ready to play from the start.
“I think the kids were confident, great start in that first game,” he said. “And, as you know, we’re going to have those lulls sometimes. We had one definitely there in that fourth game. That second set game was so close. I think, obviously, if we would have taken that game, things maybe would have been a little different…”
The full story and more photos from the state tournament, will be in the Nov. 8 print and e-editions of the Enterprise Journal.
