Comets pass stress test

Charles City outlasts New Hampton, 3-2, in NEIC volleyball match

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — People tend to avoid stressful situations.

Yet Charles City volleyball coach Maddie Fank is at least glad it’s coming at the beginning of the season.

“We’ve already put ourselves into a lot of stressful situations,” Fank said. “So our girls are prepared for stress.”

Tuesday night’s home match against New Hampton to open the Northeast Iowa Conference season was no exception.

The Comets lost the first game 26-24 after bolting out to a 10-1 lead.

Charles City rebounded to win the next two games (25-19, 25-20), but with the Chickasaws 2 points away from losing the match in the fourth game, NH rallied for 5 straight points to even the match with a 25-23 win while forcing a fifth game.

In a deciding game up to 15, the Comets looked as if they would finally rid themselves of the stubborn Chickasaws when they jumped out to a 9-1 lead and later were up 13-6 with a blocking kill by Bailee Bortz.

But New Hampton managed to make things interesting (or stressful) again for the Comets as they pulled within 3 (14-11) before Charles City senior Sydney Loeckle assisted a well-placed kill by Bortz to pull off the five-match win.

“There’s tough competition in this conference, so I’m excited about the win,” said Fank, whose team improved to 4-7 and 1-0 in the NEIC.

A pair of back-to-back kills by freshman Carly Stevensen and a Loeckle-to-Jennifer Martin point gave the Comets their 10-1 lead in the first game.

But New Hampton’s “ace” jump-server Kerigan Tenge began to make her presence felt as her service points got the Chickasaws within 4 (22-18) before three blocking kills by Rachel Rinken helped cap the comeback win.

The Chickasaws maintained the momentum going into the second game while taking a 4-1 lead. But an ace by junior Jodie Sindlinger helped put the Comets in front 14-12 before Sindlinger finished the game with a kill with Loeckle assisting.

In the third game, kills by Tayler Smith and Martin helped put the Comets go up 9-4 before Tenge’s blocking kill tied the game at 14.

The Comets finished strong and ended the game with another Loeckle-to-Sindlinger kill.

After trailing for most of the fourth game, the Chickasaws benefited from a net violation call which tied it at 23 before consecutive aces by Tenge closed the game.

The Comets were coming off a rather tough weekend after going 0-5 at Saturday’s tournament at Valley High School in Wes Des Moines. Going into the tournament Charles City was ranked No. 8 in Class 4A by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

In Wes Des Moines, the Comets faced teams all ranked in the Top 15 in Class 5A.

“We faced competition we normally won’t see during the season,” Fank said. “It was a good test for us.”

The Comets were far from full strength at the tournament. Returning All-NEIC first-team outside hitter Tayler Schmidt was unavailable due to a bum ankle.

“She hadn’t practiced all last week, and we wanted to make sure she was ready to go for this match,” Fank said of sitting senior Schmidt in West Des Moines. “We also rested Sami Heyer.

“But one good thing about that was it gave some of our younger players a chance to step up. (Freshman) Carly Stevenson was one of those girls and she showed that she can really hit it hard no matter who’s in front of her.”