March 28, 2024

Tigerhawks beat Bolts; Bolts win Tigerhawk Invite

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COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo’s Tigerhawks recorded two firsts on Saturday. Baxter’s Bolts also had two firsts.

Colfax-Mingo held its inaugural Tigerhawk Volleyball Invitational. The Tigerhawks won the opening match of the tournament, beating Baxter 14-21, 23-21, 15-6.

After losing the opening match to Colfax-Mingo, the Bolts claimed back-to-back victories over Des Moines Hoover, 21-5, 21-6, and Clarke 21-17, 21-11. With the wins, the Bolts captured the first Tigerhawk Invitational championship.They also won their first tournament as the Baxter Bolts.

“I’m very proud of the girls today on winning the Colfax-Mingo tournament,” Baxter head coach Scott Ranck said. “It was a total team effort. We overcame a little adversity and really got in a groove in defeating Hoover and Clarke.”

Colfax-Mingo also went 2-1 in the tournament. The Tigerhawks lost to Clarke 21-19, 10-21, 15-13 and rebounded with a 21-14, 21-14 win over Hoover.

The tournament title went to Baxter, which had less set losses than Colfax-Mingo. In their three matches, the Bolts went 5-2 in sets while the Tigerhawks were 5-3. Clarke was third and Hoover took fourth.

Medals were awarded to the Bolts and there were medals given to each team’s MVP for the tournament. The team MVPs were senior Jordynn Wesselink of Baxter, senior Ries Wilson of Colfax-Mingo, senior Nadine Garcia of Hoover and junior Ashlynn Oehlert of Clarke.

“It is so exciting. I honestly thought this wasn’t going to happen while I was still in school,” Wilson said of her team’s first-ever home volleyball tournament. “Being close to my home and giving a lot more people an opportunity to come out and support us, it’s great. I love it.”

Colfax-Mingo has two seniors on its squad. Wilson and Megan Earles led the Tigerhawks throughout the tournament, including the come-from-behind win over Baxter. Earles served the final two points in the second set for Colfax-Mingo.

“It’s so nice to have a home tournament,” Earles said. “Normally, we leave super early in the morning and are tired when we get there so we don’t play well in our first match. Ries mentioned it in the locker room that this was the first first match of a tournament we’ve won.”

The Tigerhawks jumped out to a 3-1 lead over the Bolts in the first set, but the Bolts rallied to tie it up at 6-all. Senior Sailor Hinegardner served four straight points followed by three points served up by Wesselink to put Baxter on top for good.

Baxter pushed on to win 21-14. Colfax-Mingo came out in the second set on a tear, including three service points from Earles to gain a 4-1 lead. A kill by Wilson, who had 24 kills for the day, put the Tigerhawks up 8-4.

The Tigerhawks appeared to be on their way to tying up the match, leading the Bolts 16-12. Sophomore Amber Weltha delivered a kill to give the serve back to the Bolts trailing by three points.

Hinegardner went to work on the service line with Wesselink working the net for the Bolts. Baxter tied it up and went up by two, 18-16, on a five-point service run. The Bolts had the serve with set and match point on the line, 20-8.

Colfax-Mingo took the next point and junior Chelsea Russell delivered her only ace serve of the match. The Bolts regained the serve up 21-20 but failed to convert.

With the set tied at 21-all, Earles aced a serve then junior Colbee Cunningham downed a kill for the winning point. The 23-21 victory by the Tigerhawks forced a deciding third set between the two Jasper County teams.

“We came out hot at the start of the match then lost focus. Every tournament I’ve ever played in during high school, we’re always slow in the morning,” Wilson said. “At the end of the second set, we were on a roll, which helped us into the third set. We were going to finish it.”

Leading 3-2, Colfax-Mingo used a six-point serving run by Cunningham to help them finish it against Baxter. The Tigerhawks controlled the third set, up 11-4 when junior Braedynn Rawlins served for three points. It was defensive play that ended the set and gave the Tigerhawks the match victory.

“We were determined not to lose the match. We knew Baxter was one of the better teams in the tournament and we knew we could do it,” Earles said.

Wilson led the Tigerhawks with eight kills and one block assist at the net. Junior Mac Brown and Cunningham had five kills apiece. Brown had two block assists while Cunningham and Rawlins made one block assist apiece.

Earles was 14-of-15 serving with two aces. She also was credited with 14 set assists.

Cunningham was 13-of-14 serving. Rawlins had two ace serves. Brown, Cunningham and Russell each had one ace serve. Russell also had seven digs.

For Baxter, Wesselink delivered eight kills, made four digs and was 9-of-9 serving with one ace. Hinegardner was 12-of-12 serving with four ace serves. Weltha had four kills and senior Mary Schabilion had two kills.

Senior Lexi Ewing put up nine set assists and junior Sydney Schmidt had five assists. Hinegardner had five digs. The Bolts were 47-of-49 serving, 96 percent in the match.

Baxter served well the entire tournament, going 124-of-131 for 96 percent for the three matches. Colfax-Mingo had a good day serving also, 129-of-145 for 89 percent.

The Tigerhawks faced Clarke’s Lady Indians for their second match. Serving was good for Colfax-Mingo, 49-of-53 for 92.5 percent, as Earles and Rawlins were perfect at the service line. Brown served up five aces.

“The story of the match was hitting negative at .016,” Tigerhawk head coach Michelle Grant said.

Colfax-Mingo had 14 kills out of 61 spike attempts against Clarke and lost in three sets 21-19, 10-21, 15-13.

Wilson had eight kills and Cunningham had three kills. Brown put down two kills. She and Wilson had one block assist each. Earles had 11 assists.

Russell and Wilson were credited with nine digs apiece. Earles had four digs, Brown and freshman Kira Warrick each had three digs and Cunningham and Rawlins made two digs each.

After sitting for two matches, the Bolts were back on the court with a vengeance. Baxter powered past Hoover’s Huskies 21-5, 21-6.

Wesselink was 11-of-12 at the service line with four aces. Sophomore Bekka Watt was 8-of-8 with two aces and Ewing was 9-of-9 with one ace.

Weltha put down four kills at the net. Schabilion and Wesselink each had two kills, and Ewing and Hinegardner had one kill apiece. Ewing made five assists and Schmidt had four assists. Wesselink had six digs.

The Bolts kept the momentum going with a 21-17, 21-11 win over Clarke. They went 40-of-41 at the service line led by Hinegardner’s 10-of-10. Sophomore Abbey Shepley had two ace serves. Ewing, Wesselink, Schabilion and Schmidt served up one ace apiece.

At the net, Weltha had three kills, and Wesselink and Schabilion each had two kills. Hingardner, freshman Hallee Rainsbarger and Schmidt had one kill each.

Ewing had five set assists and six digs. Wesselink had four digs and Hinegardner had three digs.

“The girls are learning their specific roles and working together better with every match,” Baxter’s Ranck said. “Anytime you win a tournament it’s a great day, and we are looking forward to the Madrid quadrangular on Monday.”

Colfax-Mingo used its two-match layoff to regroup for the final match of the tournament. The Tigerhawks won 21-14, 21-14 with Earles serving 14-of-15 with three ace serves. Cunningham had two aces and Wilson had one ace.

Wilson had another eight kills and was credited with five digs. Cunningham had three kills and three digs. Brown had two kills and three digs. Earles made 10 set assists.

The Tigerhawks (3-3) take a 1-0 South Iowa Cedar League conference mark into Monday’s 5:30 p.m. home SICL match with Lynnville-Sully.

Baxter (3-2) plays against Gidden-Ralston, Collins-Maxwell and host Madrid on Monday. Matches begin at 5 p.m. at Madrid.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
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or jsheets@newtondailynews.com