March 29, 2024

Tigerhawks stay on top of SICL with sweep of Bears

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COLFAX — Juniors Ries Wilson and Megan Earles have been starting for the Colfax-Mingo volleyball team as hitter and setter, respectively, every year they have been in high school.

Wilson has led the team in kills in each of the last three seasons, while Earles has finished with more assists than anyone during that same span.

For the first time in their varsity volleyball careers, the statistics are translating into victories.

The Tigerhawks matched their win total from the last two seasons combined Monday night with a relatively easy triumph over English Valleys in South Iowa Cedar League play. The team remained undefeated inside the conference following a 25-8, 25-13, 25-19 sweep of the Bears.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Earles, who led the Tigerhawks with 30 assists and seven digs on the night. “Not having to lose all the time has been great. Our confidence is pretty high right now.”

The victory helped Colfax-Mingo keep pace with Class 1A No. 9 Iowa Valley, which also is undefeated in league play. The Tigerhawks, who won nine games last year and five the season before, are now 14-5 on the season and 6-0 in SICL play.

English Valleys fell to 1-17 after the loss. The Bears are still winless in SICL play.

“This feels amazing,” Grant said. “Once we got through North Mahaska, Lynnville-Sully and Montezuma, I knew we had a really good shot to be very good. The fact that we started with those teams and beat them gave us a ton of confidence. We are going into weekend tournaments now looking like a team to beat instead of just being there. It’s fun.”

Colfax-Mingo jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and never looked back. The closest English Valleys got the rest of the frame 7-3.

A long service run by junior Rhiannon Haley helped create even more seperation late in the set and then gave the Tigerhawks a lead for good with another long service run in the second stanza.

Tied at 8-all, Haley served up an ace and Colfax-Mingo never trailed again. Haley served for eight straight points and collected three aces during that span. For the match, she was 18-of-19 with five aces.

“She was big time,” Grant said of Haley. “She has so much power that she can’t hit it too hard if she really swings at it, so she has that floating type of serve that moves a lot. It throws off opponents because they don’t know where it’s going.”

Senior Amy Russell also had five aces in the match for Colfax-Mingo. Two of those came late in the second set and it gave the Tigerhawks a 19-9 advantage. They went on to win the second set by 12.

Russell and Haley did not play volleyball last year. They have both been very big pieces to the Tigerhawks’ success in 2016.

“I wish I would have played last year. It would have helped them out a lot,” said Russell, who finished with 10 kills, 10 digs and five aces. “I kind of feel like I let the team down, but this year has been fun.”

Russell has been a solid sidekick to Wilson this season. They are one of three hitting duos in the SICL to both be ranked in the top 10 in kills. Russell now has 123 kills on the season. Her 38 aces ranks tied for third in the league.

Wilson finished with 17 kills and eight digs on the night. She ranks first in the SICL with 242 kills and is third in digs with 161.

“It’s been really important to have Amy back on the team this year,” Earles said. “It’s nice to have plenty of options in the front row when Ries is in the back row. It’s always better to have more options.”

Russell knows she is the team’s second option, and that’s perfectly OK with her, especially since the team is at the top of the conference.

“She is our go-to hitter. I am her back up really. And I am OK with that,” Russell said.

The third and final set was the most competitive of the night. There were six ties and the biggest lead by either squad was the six that Colfax-Mingo won by.

It was 21-19 when the Tigerhawks scored the final four points of the game, highlighted by two Russell kills and a Chelsea Russell ace.

Chelsea Russell, a sophomore, finished with three aces and was 13-of-13 in serves. The Tigerhawks missed nine serves in all (63-of-72) but finished with 14 aces.

The Tigerhawks play at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Belle Plaine (12-9). The Plainsmen’s only two SICL losses this season came in a four-set defeat to Iowa Valley on Sept. 22 and a five-set loss to Montezuma on Monday.