Sigourney stops Montezuma in second round

SIGOURNEY – The second match wasn’t quite a carbon copy, but it was close. 

In the end the result was the same again. For the second time in just 10 days the Sigourney volleyball team was able to gain a 3-1 win over Montezuma. 

The latest win came during the second round of the class 1A regional volleyball tournament. For Sigourney the Oct. 23 victory advanced the Savages to the regional semifinals. 

Just like when the two teams met on Oct. 14, the Oct. 23 match came down to which team was going to play better when the points mattered. 

Unlike the last match, when Sigourney and Montezuma split the first two sets, Sigourney seemed to be on the fast track to a sweep as they won the first set 25-21. The second set was backed up with a 27-25 Sigourney victory. 

In the third set though the Bravettes were able to win 25-22, erasing a modest lead by the Savages, and extending the match.

“The match really came down to having a strong mentality in the game of volleyball,” said Sigourney head volleyball coach Sierra Davis. “One thing I like about my team is how strong of a mental game of volleyball they do have. The girls were able to get out of the early rut they were in.”

The mental strength of the Savages was tested early on in the fourth set as it seemed like the Bravettes were ready to back up their third set win with a fourth set victory as well. 

Nine of the first 10 points of the set went to Montezuma. The blocks that had worked in the first three sets were almost useless to start the fourth set. Montezuma seemed unstoppable as they gained a 9-1 lead. Their ninth point came off an ace.

The next point was a much-needed sideout spike by the Savages. From there the match started to lean back in the favor of the Savages.

“The girls know what they have to do in order to get into the set,” Davis said. “We were just making error after error to start that fourth set. We told the girls when we took a timeout that we just needed one pass to get everything put back together. As soon as we got that pass we went right back to our hard swings, and we were back on track.”

Once the Savages were able to get out of their deficit, and swing at the ball, nothing seemed to be able to stop them. 

The trio attack from Josephine Moore, Addy Fineran and Reagan Clarahan put the Savages on the fast track for the comeback. Seemingly in the blink of an eye the Savages went from trailing 9-1 to leading 16-13. 

Playing with the lead the Savages changed up their attack, and kept the foot on the gas gaining an eventual 19-14 lead. 

Montezuma fought back and tied the set at 21 points each late. However, the senior led core of the Savages were ready for the fight. 

Kills by Moore and Clarahan helped the Savages work their way to a 25-22 fourth set win, delivering the match 3-1 to Sigourney. 

“We always want a team to feel the pressure,” Davis said. “Coming into this match we knew that we are the better team. We wanted to keep the pressure on Montezuma so that’s what we really needed to do in the fourth set. To get that fourth set win we just needed to focus on what we are doing on our side of the net.”

McKinley Chittick led the Savages with 15 kills. Josephine Moore added 14 kills and Reagan Clarahan finished with 10 kills. Addy Fineran added eight kills. Bailey Gretter, Taylor Rozenboom both had four kills. 

Rozenboom added 36 assists in the match. Gretter had nine assists. Clarahan and Dani Aller both had one assist each. 

Moore led the way with 26 digs. Gretter finished with 22 digs. Aller added 16 digs while Clarahan had eight. Chittick and Gabi Dehne both added seven digs each. Hannah Hanselman had five digs. 

Gretter and Aller both had two aces. Rozenboom, Clarahan and Hanselman all had one ace each. 

With the win the Savages move to the regional semifinals. They played No. 1 ranked Ankeny Christian in Ankeny on Oct. 28.