The #5 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg and #4 (2A) Dike-New Hartford volleyball teams will meet in the biggest match in history between the programs Tuesday. They’ll clash in a Class 2A quarterfinal inside Xtream Arena on 104.9 KLMJ, which will be the first state tournament meeting between the programs.
The Falcons (36-6) enter the state tournament after a regional bracket where they swept each opponent. They’ll look to continue one of the most successful seasons in program history. After qualifying for the state tournament for the first time since 2008 last season, Head Coach Candace Kleespies says this year’s mission was to not only return, but advance in the tournament.
“We talked early on about pressure being a privilege,” Kleespies says. “There’s two different ways you can look at that. You can really sit back and kind of be like, oh man, like pressure, or you can be like, heck yes, like we earned the privilege to have this pressure. And we just talked that that was the mantra that we were gonna take with that. Just talking to them early on about it and letting them know, this is what we need out of this, and then same thing going into different matches. Just kind of talking over the aspect of that a little bit more with them. And I think that definitely helped with them this year, just understanding, okay, we’re on a different level now. And so this is what is expected and this is what we’ve got to do to get things done.”
The Falcons boast some of the more talented players in the 2A tournament field. Peyton Klooster has the fourth-most kills per set with 3.7, and Bella Buseman has the most assists per set at 9.8.
Dike-New Hartford (29-15) is making its fifth consecutive state tournament appearance and 25th overall. Head Coach Diane Harms says this year’s team had great potential for development, and they’ve cashed in.
“Each individual player really has grown tremendously throughout the season,” Harms says. “Sometimes it was little things, sometimes it was just some understanding of things, but each individual grew. And then when you put that all together as a team, our team has grown in our understanding of what we want to try to do on the court, what our roles are, and how we should be approaching our roles. I mean, it’s been a lot of fun to see the development throughout the season from all the players and the development as our team has come together and grown also.”
The Wolverines did not drop a set in their regional bracket. They enter as the team with the top serve efficiency and second-most blocks among the field. Keely Kauten and Shannon Moorman have combined for 145 blocks on the season, and are the second-best middle-hitter tandem in the field by that metric.
The match will be preceded by RadioOnTheGo’s Meet the Team Shows, beginning with Aplington-Parkersburg at 2:00 and Dike-New Hartford at approximately 2:45. The first serve will be at 4:00, and the winner will advance to Wednesday’s semifinal against either #1 Denver or #8 Boyden-Hull.
Candace Kleespies interview:
Diane Harms interview:
