Comets advance to volleyball regional semis

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — After slow starts in the first two sets, Charles City continued its dominance over Decorah while sweeping the Vikings in the first round of the Class 4A-Region 4 volleyball bracket, Wednesday night at Comet Gym.

With straight-set scores of 25-17, 25-21, 25-11, the Comets (13-27) defeated the Vikings for the fourth time this season and now advance to the semifinals where they will make a 200-mile round trip to face No. 8-ranked West Delaware next Tuesday (Oct. 23).

“They are very fast in the middle, so we’ve got to be quick with our defense,” Comet head coach Maddy Fank said of her team’s next opponent. “We’re going to work on our serves to try to keep them out of rotation.”

In the first set, it wasn’t until Comet freshman Rachel Chambers slapped in a kill that Charles City first owned a lead (9-8). Soon after a Sam Alinea-to-Jodie Sindlinger kill gave the Comets some distance (16-11) ahead of consecutive kills by senior Sami Heyer.

The Vikings went up 6-3 in the second set, but that lead soon vanished as Lexi Vance’s ace put the Comets up 14-9. Decorah made a late run to pull closer, but it was interrupted by a Jennifer Martin-to-Sindlinger kill then later an ace by Alinea to help put Charles City up 23-17 on the way of going up 2-0.

There was no drama in the third set as the Comets jumped out to a 6-1 lead with Toni Maloy assisting a kill by Chambers before consecutive aces by Heyer made the score 21-5.

After six-straight points by Decorah, Alex Litterer recorded consecutive kills to help put the match away.

The last time the Comets faced the Vikings was this past Saturday when Decorah hosted the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament. Charles City went 3-3 during the tournament, including an upset win over Class 3A No. 13th-ranked New Hampton, which began the season with 25 straight match victories.

“It was one of our best matches of the season,” Fank said of the win over the Chickasaws. “It showd what type of team we can be when we play to our full potential.”

Charles City played Class 4A No. 9-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock following the victory over New Hampton. Though the Comets lost in straight sets, they were able to stay competitive with the Go-Hawks through the entire match.

Waverly-Shell Rock is the No. 1 seed in the bracket. Likely the winner of the Comets-WD Hawks semifinal will face the Go-Hawks in the championship on Oct. 29 for a chance to advance to the state finals.