The #7 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg volleyball team will look to swoop in on a marquee win at #1 (2A) Denver in NICL-Central action on Tuesday.
A-P (10-3, 1-1 NICL-Central) went 2-2 at their home tournament on Saturday with wins over AGWSR and #14 (2A) Grundy Center. The Falcons lost to #9 (3A) West Delaware and #1 (1A) Ankeny Christian. Peyton Klooster has provided a spark as the Falcons’ lead attacker with 126 kills (3rd in NICL-Central) and 33 service aces (1st in NICL-Central).
A-P Coach Candace Kleespies says aggressive serving has been a focal point, in an effort to force elite teams out of system.
“We always talk that we want to be very aggressive from that service line,” says Kleespies. “With that, we know were going to take more errors with that. As long as our aces are kind of staying up there with that also, then we’re pulling them out of system as much as we can. We needed to work a little bit more of the seams, and we didn’t get that done. But for the most part, I felt our serving was pretty aggressive, and we are hitting our spots that we needed to.”
The Falcons have 91 service aces (12th most in 2A) this season.
Denver (19-1, 1-0 NICL-Central) is on a 14 match win streak that included a 5-0 performance at a highly talented A-P tournament on Saturday. The Cyclones lead Class 2A in kills (558) and assists (533). Channing Johnson has been a dual threat to opponents for the Cyclones, with 439 assists (2nd in 2A) and with 26 blocks (leads in NICL-Central).
The match will air on 99 The Wave, with coverage beginning at 7:20 p.m. followed by the first serve at 7:30 p.m. at Denver.
