Tigerhawks score first SICL victory

COLFAX — Volleyball can be a game of momentum.

After coming back to tie the match and forcing a fifth set, the Sigourney Savages seemed to have the momentum against Colfax-Mingo on Thursday.

The Savages came out strong in the deciding set, but not even a 5-0 Sigourney lead in the fifth could keep the Tigerhawks from winning their first match in South Iowa Cedar League play.

Colfax-Mingo lost a 2-0 lead earlier in the match, but dug down deep in the final set and rallied for a 26-24, 25-22, 17-25, 16-25, 16-14 triumph in front of its home fans.

“I just kept telling them that we were the better team,” Colfax-Mingo coach Michelle Grant said. “We proved that in the first two games.”

Sophomore Ries Wilson recorded her first double-double of the season, collecting 14 kills and 23 digs. She was in the back row during the deciding points of the fifth set, but Megan Earles passed the ball to her anyway. The Tigerhawks’ most efficient hitter delivered in a clutch spot.

“We have been working on getting me the ball in the back row because stuff like that will happen. I won’t always be up front,” Wilson said. “To see us follow through on the stuff we have been working on is really cool.”

After falling behind 5-0, McKeely Tjaden and Wilson collected back-to-back kills to get C-M on the board. A service error and a Dakota Hostetter kill trimmed the Savages’ lead to one. It stayed that way until four straight points gave Colfax-Mingo a 10-8 lead.

Included in that run were kills by Wilson, Aranda Woods and Hostetter.

Sigourney (0-4 overall, 0-3 in SICL play) rallied back to 11-10, but a back-row kill by Wilson and an Earles kill to the sideline made it 13-11. The Savages tied it at 13, and then it was tied at 14, before Wilson connected for the two biggest points of the match.

“A lot of people stepped up tonight. We don’t want to accept losing anymore,” Wilson said. “We want to show the rest of the conference schools who we are and who we want to be.

“Getting a win tonight will show the rest of the conference that we aren’t going to back down and just quit when things don’t go our way.”

Colfax-Mingo won the first two sets of the match, but both were back-and-forth affairs.

The opening set was tied four times in the first 20 points before Sigourney scored five in a row to go up 15-10. The Savages maintained an advantage until Wilson got going at the net.

A block by Wilson and Tjaden trimmed the deficit to 20-17 and then a Wilson kill later made it 20-19. Wilson had two other kills during the final stages of the set and the second one tied things up at 22-all.

Two service errors by Colfax-Mingo gave Sigourney set point, but then the Savages served it into the net to make it 24-all. The Tigerhawks won the set after Sigourney hit the ball out of bounds and then stepped over the line during an attack shot at the net.

The Tigerhawks (3-3, 1-2) controlled the second set for the most part. They jumped out to a 7-2 lead following back-to-back aces by Chelsea Russell and then led 12-4 following Earles’ tap at the net.

Sigourney got as close as 14-13 but couldn’t get over the hump as Colfax-Mingo won it by three.

“We need confidence wins right now, and this one will help,” Grant said.

The Savages used a large run in the middle of set three to get back into the match. Leading 10-8, Sigourney scored six straight and never looked back.

A similar run by the visitors allowed the Savages to gain an advantage in the fourth set. Leading 8-7, Sigourney rolled off five points to take control and Colfax-Mingo never got closer than five the rest of the way.

“Even though I would always rather win 3-0, wins like this are good too because it shows the girls that they can win a five-set match, and we can win a match when things don’t go our way the whole time,” Grant said.

Woods had a season-high 11 kills, while Tjaden recorded a season-high seven kills.

Earles finished with 32 assists, Russell collected 23 digs and two aces and Hostetter added 21 digs.

Colfax-Mingo plays in the Guthrie Center Tournament on Saturday.