Published: November 04, 2009 07:05 am      

Camanche volleyball team earns trip to state tournament

By Jon Gremmels

Herald Sports Editor

ELDRIDGE — As the Camanche players on the floor and their teammates and coaches on the bench watched Durant’s last volley sail over their heads and out of bounds, they were struck with emotion. As the celebration began to die down, senior standout Ashtyn Dixon reflected on the ending.

“Finally we’re there, finally,” she said.

Ousted by Durant in last year’s regional tournament, Camanche beat the Wildcats for the third time this year Tuesday night. In the biggest match of their lives, the Indians earned a trip to the Class 2A state tournament next week in Cedar Rapids with the 25-12, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22 victory at North Scott High School. Camanche, ranked fifth in the state with a 41-3 record, faces No. 4 Fairbank Wapsie Valley in a 6 p.m. quarterfinal match next Thursday.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m so excited,” Dixon said. “This is the best, this is the best. This is what we’ve worked for all summer, all year. This is it.”

Camanche’s quest for the 2009 state tournament began shortly after Durant — a team the Indians had beaten in the regular season a year ago, too — stunned them on their home floor in the regionals.

“We’ve been working on this all season, and it was a great feeling (that) finally it worked,” Camanche senior hitter Chelsea Moore said.

The fact that it was Durant made it just that much better.

“Very much extra special because we know that coach (John Walsh) is after us after the Northeast tournament, beating them twice (there),” junior setter Tiana Bark said. “We know they really wanted it, so it felt nice to beat them again.”

While his players might have wanted another shot at Durant after last year’s elimination game, Camanche coach Mark Cremer would have preferred anyone else.

“Now that it’s all over with, that’s awesome, but going into it I would have rather played anybody than Durant,” Cremer said. “He’s just too smart a coach. I was worried all night long that he was going to find out something that was going to take us out of our game. He’s one of the best coaches in the area, so a win over him is huge at this point.”

The Wildcats (33-6) never could find the right formula to knock off the Indians. Even when they won Game 2, the Indians made them work hard for it and refused to let it be a momentum-changing game.

“I think that’s what our team is best at,” Bark said of not letting adversity create problems.

“I think the biggest key was that the kids didn’t get shook,” Cremer said. “The last two years, when we’ve had adversity during the match we’ve kind of fallen apart. This year when we had the adversity — when we dropped the second game — the kids came in the huddle and they said: ‘Hey, no problem. We’ve got to win them one game at a time.’ I think that attitude has been key for us.”

In Game 2, the Wildcats led by six points once and by five points as late as 19-14 before Camanche made things interesting. Gonzalez, Dixon and Moore had kills in a 4-1 run that made it 20-18, then an ace by Dixon cut the gap to 20-19. Later, a three-point run capped by Moore kill from the left side gave Camanche a 23-22 lead.

Durant finished off the win with three consecutive points, but it couldn’t finish off the Indians.

“It was important not to get killed in that game so we could have momentum going into the third game,” Dixon said. (Between games) we talked about it in the huddle and said this is the match to go to state. Let’s go. We can’t lose this one.”

And the Indians didn’t lose again.

With its senior leaders taking front stage, Camanche used a pair of three-point runs to win Game 3 and reclaim the edge. Set up by senior Sarah Thornton, Moore had a kill from the right side for a 13-12 lead. A block by Ashley Gonzalez and Dixon made it 14-12, then Moore completed the run with an ace. Dixon supplied similar bookends with an opening kill and closing ace for another three-point run, then added two more serves that the Wildcats were unable to set up into their offense for a comfortable 23-15 lead.

“The best thing going for us in our rotation is that Ashtyn and Chelsea, it only takes three rotations for one of them to get back there and serve,” Cremer said. “They’ve been the ones who have been most disappointed by our failures of the past. They took it upon themselves that they were going to find a way to make this happen no matter what.”

Durant started strong in the fourth set, using two aces by Makenzie Meyer and an ace by Shelby Paustian for a 4-0 lead. But, once again, the Indians refused to back down. With her team trailing 10-7, junior Haley Pulse delivered a pair of kills, then Moore added another to tie the game that they eventually pulled out to lock up the trip to the state meet.

The final game featured ties at 17, 18, 19 and 20 before Camanche finally put a run together. The Indians went ahead when Compton’s serve was deep.

“It went back and forth, back and forth,” Moore said. “Everyone gets more nervous and more excited, but it makes it more fun for the audience to watch probably.”

Then setter Tiana Bark made a key kill on a second hit, following a dig by Dixon, to make it 22-20.

“I think that started the momentum and got us pumped up,” Bark said.

Bark assisted on a thundering spike by Moore to make it 23-20 before the teams trade points the rest of the way to the victory.

It was the ideal ending to a night that started strong, too.

“Oh, my gosh, it’s exhilarating,” Pulse, a junior, said. “My freshman year we wanted it but knew we probably wouldn’t get it and were done in the first round. Then last year we were really hoping again but basically ended up playing real bad and lost in the second round again. This year it was the last year for the five of us — the five veterans (seniors Dixon and Moore, and juniors Gonzalez, Bark and Pulse) — and everyone wanted and it was the last year, so just go get it.”



CAMANCHE 25-23-25-25, DURANT 12-25-18-22

Statistical leaders

Kills — Camanche (Chelsea Moore 18, Ashtyn Dixon 13, Ashley Gonzalez 11, Tiana Bark 7, Haley Pulse 6); Durant (Renee Telsrow 18, Makenzie Meyer 13, Shelby Paustian 8, Mackenzie Compton 4). Blocks (solo-assist) — Camanche (Gonzalez 3-1, Dixon 0-1, Bark 0-1, Sam Drury 0-1); Durant (Stevie Lorenz 0-1, Telsrow 0-1). Ace serves — Camanche (Moore 3, Dixon 3, Sarah Thornton 1); Durant (Paustian 2, Compton 2, Allison Ralfs 1). Assists — Camanche (Bark 35, Thornton 7, Pulse 3); Durant (Ralfs 42, Annie Miller 2). Digs — Camanche (Moore 21, Dixon 16).