It was a match that took everything that both teams had in them, but when the dust settled the Cowgirls had just a bit more and it was enough to take them back to Cedar Rapids.
After being pushed to five sets, someplace the team hasn’t been for awhile, the ladies in red & block finally turned back a stubborn Des Moines Christian team by set scores of; L25-20, W25-22, W25-16, L25-20 and W 15-9. The teams traded point for point early in set one, with a huge Lion kill putting them up 11-10. Later, a net call in favor of the Lions tied it at 14-14. They sent a serve out of bounds for a Cowgirl point to give them the lead, only to see DMC tie it again at 15-15. A Lion hit past the back line put CGD up by one, followed by a powerful Middleton kill down the middle of the court to go up 17-15. Two straight Lion points tied it, with Lienemann trying for a point to no avail for an 18-17 Lion advantage. Another hit out by the Cowgirls made it 19-17, forcing coach TerHark to call a timeout to regroup her charges.
A Middleton smack over the net fell just inside the line to pull them within one. A kill attempt by the Lions went out to tie the set at 19-19. DMC found a hole on the other side of the court to drop in a point for 20-19, countered by a Middleton kill from the left side for another tie. The Lions then scored on a hit that couldn’t be returned, and took the score to 23-20 to force another Cowgirl timeout. A Lion kill set up set point, with a service ace putting DMC up 1-0 in the match.
The second set opened with the Lions staying in early control. A four-hit call put them up 13-10, with a Cowgirl kill attempt going right back over for a 14-10 score. A Lion kill followed, forcing TerHark to call timeout with a 15-10 Lion lead. Coming out of that. Middleton got the coach’s message in stepping up and stopping the Lion run with a big kill shot. On the next point attempt, the Cowgirls couldn’t handle the ball for a Lion point. Kendall Lienemann then took her turn with a left-side kill for a 16-12 deficit. They put the next ball right back over to cut it to three, which then ignited a run as a kill attempt by the Cowgirls was returned out of bounds followed later by a tap over to make it 17-16 as CGD tried to gain control of the set.
The Lions found a way to stop the run at 19-16, followed by a serve going long for another DMC point. At 21-16 Lions, another TerHark timeout seemed to turn it around for the red & black. A block-back for a point was followed by a net call as Lienemann stepped into the serving role. A blocked ball going out on the CGD side made it 22-18 Lions, but they became stuck on that 22 mark as the Cowgirls started what proved to be the set-deciding rally.
A tap over by the Cowgirls cut it to three, with a hit out by the Lions putting CGD within one. It was the Lions turn to call timeout, and coming out of that a net call tied it at 22-22 as the comeback was complete.
That would be when the Cowgirls shut the door on the Lions, as a tap over was blocked back for a 23-22 lead. Middleton’s huge kill made for set point, and Morgan ten finished it off in her usual way for a win and tie of the match.
Set three had the Cowgirls up early and in fairly good control. A CGD lead of 15-7 forced a Lion timeout, and it seemed to help as they went on a five-point run to force a Cowgirl time to plot strategy. A DMC hit that went long made it 17-12 Cowgirls, only to see some communication issues create two straight Lion points. Middleton stopped the rally with a shot from the left for an 18-14 lead, then hit a ball just inside the line on the DMC side for another point. A hit out of bounds gave the Lions a point, only to see a block-back go out on their side for a 20-15 CGD advantage. Middleton would serve up two winners as the Cowgirls tried for a run to the set win, only to be stopped by a ball into the net on a return. The Lions then failed to return serve for a 23-16 score, followed by a long rally to take it to set point. Lienemann then crushed the ball over for a 25-16 win and a 2-1 match lead.
This would normally be the time when the Cowgirls would cruise through the fourth set on their way to a victory, but DMC had other plans. It started out nicely enough, as a Lienemann service ace ignited them to an eventual 10-6 lead as the Lions called time to regroup. They came out of that to score the next three points which closed the gap to 10-9. A Cowgirl kill attempt had the ball go out on the return attempt to stop it at 11-9. Two straight Lion points tied the score, with a serve-receive going out by CGD for the Lions first lead of the set at 12-11.
A serve into the net tied it again at 12-12, which started a trend of point for point as each team battled toe to toe for control of the set. A kill attempt by the Cowgirls went out for a Lion point, followed by CGD tying it again. A tap over provided a Cowgirl point, followed by them not finding the handle on the ball to tie it. A Middleton tap over was followed by a huge Lion hit for a point, with the Cowgirls finally stringing two points together as the Lions struggled a bit on defense. DMC found an opening on the other side to make it 17-17, with a block-back on a Lienemann kill attempt giving the Lions an 18-17 advantage. Middleton misfired on a hit attempt to make it 19-17, forcing a Cowgirl timeout to regroup. A net call in favor of CGD cut their lead to one, with a kill shot right down the middle of the court by Middleton tying it at 19-19. A net call went in favor of the Cowgirls to make it 20-19, which then led to a Lion timeout to stop their momentum. It seemed to work, as DMC came back with a kill to tie the score followed by just getting the ball over and seeing the Cowgirls not return it for a 21-20 advantage in this tight set battle.
With the score going to 22-20, CGD came out of a timeout only to give up two more to force set point. The Lions would take the next point as well in scoring the last five in a row to win 25-20 and force a fifth and deciding set.
DMC fired the first two salvos of set five for a 2-0 advantage. A hit out on the next serve provided the Cowgirls first point, only to see the Lions make a kill to stay up 3-1. A DMC serve went long for a 3-2 score, followed by the Lions not being able to handle the next ball to tie the score at 3-3. A net call by the official gave them a 4-3 lead, with the Lions failing to return a ball on the next serve for a 5-3 lead forcing DMC to call timeout.
A hit out of bounds by the Lions made it 6-3 CGD, only to have a DMC kill attempt go out on their side for a Lion point. A DMC block-back went out for a 7-4 Cowgirl lead, and a line call in favor of the Lions made it 7-5. A kill shot going out on the Lion attempt for control of the ball put the Cowgirls halfway home at 8-5. After giving up two straight points, Middleton stopped the bleeding with yet another big kill down the middle for a 9-7 advantage. Later, a hit that went long was followed by a ball into the net for a 12-7 CGD lead. The Lions would soon reach nine points, but that was as far as the Cowgirls would let them get in their determination to reach Cedar Rapids again. A Lienemann hit made it 13-9, followed by Kendall moving back into the serving position and nailing a perfectly timed service ace for set and match point. That was followed by the winning point as the celebration erupted off the bench and from the student section.
“We came through in a hard-fought match,” stated TerHark. “DMC is a great team and played us tough. I was really proud of how the girls responded after the first set. Our experience and determination is what helped us persevere!”
Team serving was a great 98 percent, with Lexie Lane a perfect 22 of 22 with two aces. Alaina Friesleben set the ball for 46 assists while Middleton tallied up 31 kills. Jadyn Jondle made 25 digs at the libero position, and Summer Traub executed three solo blocks on defense.
