Go-Hawks defeat Comets for NEIC VB tourney title
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com
CRESCO — The Northeast Iowa Conference Volleyball Tournament held Saturday at Crestwood High School was a simple round-robin affair.
No pool play. No seeded single-elimination bracket. No championship match
Or at least no “official” championship match.
With Waverly-Shell Rock and Charles City, ranked No. 5 and No. 11, respectively, in Class 4A in the latest Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union poll, scheduled to face each other in seventh and final round, there was a good chance that match would determine the champion.
Sure enough, Waverly-Shell Rock — which finished with the best NEIC record during the regular season — and Charles City were the lone undefeated teams going into the seventh round.
The Comets had won all five of their matches in straight games. The Go-Hawks were forced to play a third game in a best-of-three match against New Hampton in the round before taking on Charles City.
Having already defeated the Comets during the regular season, the Go-Hawks jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first game before cruising to a 25-12 win.
The second game was much tighterw at the beginning as several kills by Charles City junior Sami Heyer and a succession of service errors by Waverly-Shell Rock enabled the Comets to hang with the Go-Hawks before tying the game at 14.
But Waverly-Shell Rock’s size and strength began to better assert themselves as they closed the game and match with 7 straight points.
If Charles City is going to get a third shot at Waverly-Shell Rock this season, in could only come in the Class 4A-Region 5 bracket championship game, which would take place Oct. 30 at WSR.
Both teams have first-round byes which place them in the semifinals.
The Comets will host the winner of the Webster City-at-Mason first-round match, and the Go-Hawks will host the winner of the Waterloo East-at-Decorah first-round match.
Both semifinals will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 24.
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