If Tuesday is any indication, Iola High volleyball fans are in for a wild ride when the postseason commences.
The Mustangs showed their potential in droves to wrap up the regular season with a straight-set romp over visiting Santa Fe Trail, winning 25-21 and 25-15 to hand the Chargers their first and only defeat in the Pioneer League this season.
Iola rode that momentum to a big lead over Osawatomie in its final match of Tuesday’s triangular.
But Iola stalled at the wrong time, allowing Osawatomie to rally from deficits of 18-12 and 24-21 to stun the Mustangs, 28-26, in their first set.
Iola responded with a wallop, busting open a close set to win 25-17 and set up a third-set tiebreaker.
And again the Mustangs started quickly scoring five of the first six points before Osawatomie rallied. The Trojans put together a 14-5 run, capped with a six-point run to lead 15-10.
But Iola’s five seniors didn’t want to walk off the home court without another win in their ledger.
Alana Mader had four kills as part of an 8-2 Iola run to give the Mustangs an 18-17 lead. Fellow senior Reese Curry delivered back-to-back kills, classmate Kaysin Crusinbery pushed one over the net and finally sophomore Zoie Hesse ended things with an ace to seal the Senior Night capper, 25-20.
The victories wrap up the regular season for Iola, which travels to Girard Monday for the Class 3A Regional Tournament. As the ninth seed in the Girard quadrant, Iola (20-13) will take on the top-seeded Trojans (28-8), No. 8 seed West Franklin (22-12) and No. 16 seed Columbus (4-27). The top two seeds in the round-robin event will advance to the sub-state tournament Oct. 26 at a site to be determined.
“I’m not worried about the other teams,” Mustang head coach Amanda Holman admitted afterward. “I’m worried about us. The keys are gonna be us. As I told them before the Santa Fe Trail game, I don’t care who we play. If you bring you, we’re gonna be fine.”
Such was the case against the Chargers, who entered the regular season finale with a 26-7 mark. The squads opened their first set with a back-and-forth battle until Iola took control late in the set. Mader delivered back-to-back kills before Dally Curry served up an ace for a 21-16 lead.
Crusinbery’s ace a short while later preceded Reese Curry’s kill for the 25-21 win.
The second set was all Iola. Mader’s kill was part of a 9-1 run, giving Iola a commanding 19-10 lead.
Reese Curry wound up providing Iola’s last four points of the set and match, all with kills for the 25-15 win.
“That was awesome,” Holman said. “That was our volleyball. That’s what we need to play consistently.”
