Tigerhawks take second in home volleyball tournament

COLFAX — After winning only twice in its home tournament last season, the Colfax-Mingo volleyball team reached the championship match in 2025.

The Tigerhawks cruised through their side of the bracket with a perfect record then knocked off conference rival Iowa Valley in the semifinals before falling to Coon Rapids-Bayard in the championship of the Tigerhawk Invitational on Saturday.

The tournament was reduced to just seven schools after Murray pulled out two weeks before the day of the tournament.

Colfax-Mingo swept Baxter, GMG and Nodaway Valley in pool play, dominated Iowa Valley in the semifinals but lost in two sets to the eventual champion Crusaders.

Coon Rapids-Bayard won the tournament after sweeping all four of its opponents. Nodaway Valley finished third, Iowa Valley placed fourth and the rest of the seven-team field included East Marshall in fifth, Baxter in sixth and GMG in seventh.

The Tigerhawks defeated Baxter 21-8, 21-16 in both teams’ first match of the day.

Katelyn Steenhoek led the Tigerhawks (4-1) with eight assists, two kills, four digs and five aces.

Grace Hunsberger added four kills, three digs and four aces, Britney Keeney put down six kills, Grace Allen had six digs, Isabelle Utz chipped in five digs and four aces and Hope Allen delivered four assists. Mickey Bucklin also registered two kills.

The Tigerhawks were 35-of-41 in serves with 15 aces. They also had a kill efficiency of .231. It was Colfax-Mingo’s fifth straight win over the Bolts.

Colfax-Mingo swept GMG 21-17, 21-18 in its second match of pool play. Steenhoek led the Tigerhawks with six assists, six digs and four aces.

Utz added five kills, five digs and four aces, Grace Allen dished out two assists and collected four digs, Keeney totaled two digs and two aces and Macie Porter collected five digs.

Hunsberger put down three kills, Dakota Allen contributed two kills and Hope Allen delivered three assists.

The Tigerhawks finished 38-of-41 in serves with 11 aces. They had a kill efficiency of .178.

Colfax-Mingo got three blocks, three digs and three aces from Keeney in the 21-16, 21-11 win over Nodaway Valley.

Steenhoek posted seven assists and three kills, Hope Allen tallied six assists and four digs and Hunsberger collected six kills and two aces.

Utz finished with three kills and two aces, Grace Allen had eight digs, Porter added three digs, Dakota Allen put down two kills and Sydney Veasman collected two digs.

Colfax-Mingo was 38-of-41 in serves with eight aces. It had a kill efficiency of .214 and Hunsberger served 12-of-12.

Emma Boswell put down four kills, Mattison Thompson dished out eight assists and Taylor Laughey served up two aces to lead Nodaway Valley.

In the semifinals, Colfax-Mingo downed Iowa Valley 21-11, 21-11. Steenhoek led the way with nine assists, three digs and two aces, and she served 10-of-10.

Hope Allen totaled four assists, two digs and two aces, Utz had four kills and seven digs and Keeney tallied four kills and three aces.

Hunsberger posted three kills and three digs, Dakota Allen chipped in two kills and five digs, Grace Allen and Porter each finished with two digs and Bucklin had two kills.

The Tigerhawks were 35-of-41 with seven aces, and their kill efficiency was .333.

Olyvia Grant led Iowa Valley (1-3) with two aces, five digs and two assists. It was Colfax-Mingo’s fourth straight win over the Tigers.

Coon Rapids-Bayard swept Colfax-Mingo 21-10, 21-17 in the championship match.

Hope Allen registered three assists and four digs, Steenhoek delivered four assists, three kills and two digs and Grace Allen totaled 10 digs. Porter contributed seven digs and Utz had three digs.

Keeney and Hunsberger put down three and two kills, respectively, while Colfax-Mingo was 25-of-28 in serves with two aces.

Malia Clayburg led the Crusaders (6-0) with 12 kills, eight digs and three aces, and her kill efficiency was .417.

CR-B was 31-of-37 in serves with nine aces, and the Crusaders’ kill efficiency was .278.

Baxter’s lone win came against GMG (0-4). Nodaway Valley (3-3) handed the Bolts a 21-13, 21-15 loss and East Marshall (3-3) defeated Baxter 21-18, 21-14.

Official statistics for Baxter were not available at press time.