The #5 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg volleyball team was efficient the whole night, and earned a home sweep of Lake Mills in Monday’s 2A Region 5 semifinal, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ. The Falcons won 3-0, 25-10, 25-16, 25-14.
The Falcons had a seven-point run early in set 1 to take an early command, and seemingly never looked back. Despite a more valiant fight from the Bulldogs in set 2, the Falcons used powerful hitting and aggressive serving to pull away. Set 3 was tied at 6-6, but AP quickly pulled away to close out the sweep. Serving was a key to the win, with five aces, and three by setter Bella Buseman.
Buseman ace:
The team committed four service errors, a vast improvement from the quarterfinal.
Junior outside hitter Kolbie Wangsness says everything went in the team’s favor.
“We came out and served really aggressively and played well,” Wangsness says. “And we hit all of our zones. I think that really helped us out as a team. And when we serve aggressive, we’re really hard to beat. We played good defense and hit well, too.”
Coach Candace Kleespies says the fast start gave the team momentum.
“That is one thing that we’re really proud of the girls this year, is that every single match, they’ve shown up ready to go,” Kleespies says. “We’ve come out on fire, and it’s actually been sustaining that through the second and third set, and so really proud of how they came out ready to go. We went over a little scouting in practice yesterday, they really absorbed those things and took care of those aspects that we really wanted to hone in on. And we truly feel like that was the big difference for us, especially our serving. We hit our spots tonight and that’s a big difference.”
Peyton Klooster led with 10 kills; Jenzen Klooster and Zoey Uhlenhopp each had eight.
AP (35-6) has advanced to Wednesday’s regional final against #12 (2A) Sumner-Fredericksburg, which will be played at Waverly-Shell Rock. That match will air on 104.9 KLMJ.
Kolbie Wangsness interview:
Zoey Uhlenhopp interview:
Candace Kleespies interview:
