March 28, 2024

CMB spoils PCM’s Senior Night

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MONROE — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s volleyball team had been in a similar situation that it was in against Prairie City-Monroe on Tuesday night.

The Raiders led the Mustangs two games to none. Just like it did against Roland-Story back in early September. CMB also jumped out to early leads in every set against Class 2A No. 14 South Hamilton before losing in straight sets.

It was a familiar position, but this time, the Raiders came through and finished off their opponent.

CMB battled through adversity in the opening set but played with a lead most of the way during a 25-20, 25-15, 25-21 win over the rival Mustangs during Heart of Iowa Conference play.

The Raiders spoiled PCM’s Senior Night and pushed their record to above .500 on the season.

“We talked about it a lot. We have to play every single point and not have any let downs,” CMB coach Scott Ranck said. “It was nice to get this one done in three and not have to deal with any drama.”

PCM honored its six seniors before the match. The Mustangs recognized seniors Tatum Nearmyer, Katie Vande Wall, Kaylee Townsend, Kayla Jennings, Bailey Brodersen and Abbi Hartgers before the match began. PCM coach Krystal Ehn decided to play all of them all the way around during all of set one and set three.

“I was all about the seniors tonight,” Ehn said. “It’s their last home game and they deserve to play, and we played well in those two sets. Those were our two closest sets.”

During the match, CMB junior libero Sailor Hinegardner set a program record for digs in a single season. HInegardner entered the night with 274 digs, and she overtook the record on her second dig of the night.

“It’s an honor especially since it’s our last year with CMB,” said Hinegardner, who finished with 25 digs on the night. “It’s a special deal because of that. CMB is in my heart. I will always be a Raider.”

The two teams played even through the first half of the first set. There were four ties and neither team grabbed much of an advantage until four straight points gave CMB an 18-14 lead. Juniors Brianda Bane and Jordynn Wesselink each had back-to-back kills during that stretch.

Bane had three more kills in the set, the final one giving the Raiders a 22-18 lead. They would go on to win by five. Bane finished with 23 kills in the match and now has 243 kills on the season.

“She brings a lot of potential at the net. She reads support, she hits hard, she can go off to the side and she can push it to an open spot,” Ranck said. “Having her up front is huge. We try to make the most of when she’s in the game and then maintaining it when she comes out.”

Bane gave CMB (12-11 overall, 2-5 in HOIC play) another lead early in the second set. A pair of kills help stake the Raiders to a 6-1 advantage and then another blast put CMB up 11-4. PCM rallied when Bane left the floor though.

An ace by Nearmyer trimmed the deficit to four, but CMB went back up by seven following consecutive aces by junior Mary Schabilion. The Mustangs could only get closer than five the rest of the way as CMB went up 2-0 in the match.

“We just don’t have a lot of consistency right now. We are not playing very consistent no matter what team I put on the court,” Ehn said. “We have moments of absolute brilliance on the court, but we follow that with moments of not talking and not working together.”

CMB kept the momentum in the third set and jumped out to a 9-2 lead. During that stretch, Wesselink had two kills and three aces, while Bane had a pair of kills.

The Mustangs didn’t go away quietly. Townsend had two kills and Nearmyer served up an ace. PCM (4-29, 1-7) got as close as three with a Nearmyer kill a few points later, but the combination of Bane and Wesselink was too much to overcome.

Vande Wall got PCM to within three with a kill and an ace, but CMB ended the match a point later.

“We definitely capitalized on our leads tonight,” Hinegardner said. “It took all of us. We were all on, and that doesn’t happen very often. If we got down, we were able to pick ourselves back up.”

Wesselink finished with 12 kills, seven digs, five aces, and she was 20-of-24 in serves.

CMB senior Kathleen Baldwin had a double-double with 30 assists, 10 digs and two digs and she was 17-of-17 in serves. Baldwin now has 385 assists on the season.

Schabilion finished with seven digs and two aces. Hinegardner was 17-of-17 in serves. The Raiders were 67-of-74 in serves with seven aces.

The three-set win helps give momentum to the Raiders. They can gain more momentum with a win over winless Saydel on Thursday.

“This win propels us into regionals so we are pretty excited about that,” Bane said. “We are looking forward to the rematch with Roland-Story. We just need to keep this momentum.”

Bane missed last year’s five-set loss to PCM because of an injury. Tuesday, PCM continued to play without one its best hitters due to injury.

Sophomore Maddie Samson, who is the team’s second-leading hitter, missed all of last week with a concussion and is expected to miss the rest of the this week, too.

“Maddie Samson being out is hurting us badly,” Ehn said. “I doubt she plays in the Fairfield tournament Saturday. And then she will be at an FFA Convention for our first regional game. We may get her back if we can win that first one.”

Townsend led the Mustangs with six kills, three blocks and two aces, while Vande Wall added four kills, two aces and two blocks. Jennings collected 12 assists, two kills and three digs.

Nearmyer finished with three kills and two aces and Hartgers chipped in four digs.

CMB hosts Saydel at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Baxter. PCM plays at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Fairfield tournament.