Bullettes top Aquinas, reach regional final

By Matt Levins

The Hawk Eye

Since the beginning of the high school volleyball season, it has seemed almost inevitable that Mediapolis and Fort Madison Aquinas would meet up somewhere along the tournament trail.

In a classic matchup of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, the Bullettes and Lady Dons lived up to their billing in Monday night's Class 1A regional semifinal match at Burlington High School's Carl Johannsen Gymnasium.

In an epic battle which lasted nearly two hours, Mediapolis turned to senior all-state middle hitter Jo Kester when the chips were down. Kester showed why she is considered one of the state's best, delivering in the clutch to lead sixth-ranked Mediapolis to a thrilling 15-11, 9-15, 15-8, 15-11 victory over the Lady Dons in front of a packed house.

Mediapolis (30-4-5) advances to a regional final to face Bellevue Marquette (22-7-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Muscatine High School. The winner of that match will advance to the state tournament Nov. 14-16 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

Bellevue Marquette advanced with a 15-9, 15-7, 12-15, 16-14 victory over Northeast Goose Lake.

Aquinas, which lost in a regional final last year, ended its season with a 35-3-2 record.

"I'll tell you what, I've been doing this for 22 or 23 years now and that has to be one of the best high school matches I have ever seen," Mediapolis coach Dennis Jandrey said. "Both sides were diving all over the floor, then they would get back up and not just free ball it over the net, but hit it hard back over the net. It was awesome. It was amazing -- it really was."

"I am really proud of the way everyone played tonight," said Kester, who finished with 28 kills, 11 blocks, four assists and 12 digs. "We played really well tonight. Both sides were fighting hard."

"We knew it would be a tough match," Aquinas coach Mike Helling said. "The difference tonight was in serve receiving. We knew we could match up with them at the net and we did. We dug up a lot of balls. It all came down to passing. Their serves were just a little tougher than ours."

Mediapolis, which swept the Lady Dons in the championship match of the SEI Superconference Tournament a month ago, won the opening point of the match on a spike by Kester.

Aquinas, which had been waiting for a rematch with the Bullettes, responded with a four-point run. Senior setter Katie Rung started the rally with back-to-back aces.

The teams fought to a 10-10 tie before the Bullettes finally put the opening game away. Senior right-side hitter Krista Wirt started the rally with a block. Brenna Nelson, playing on a painfully sore knee, followed with another block.

"My knee has been bothering me for a few weeks," said Nelson, who has not practiced since last Wednesday's match. "It takes everything I have to play on it."

Wirt came up with one of many spectacular digs, diving toward the right sideline to dig out an Aquinas spike. Wirt's dig sailed over the net and found an open hole in the Aquinas defense to give Mediapolis a game point. A spike by Kester put the first game away.

"Krista came up with a couple of big hits for us," Jandrey said. "She really came up with some nice defensive plays for us. Brenna has been playing with a bum knee. Give that kid credit. It takes a lot of guts to do what she is doing. She was tough."

Aquinas showed its mettle in the second game. The Lady Dons stormed out to a quick 8-0 lead.

Aquinas scored three points on the serve of Rung, who came up with two more aces. The Lady Dons then added four straight points off the serve of Jenn Ping, including a block and a spike by Jill Braden. Kester stemmed the tide with a tip.

Mediapolis rallied to within 10-9, but could not take the lead. Aquinas ended the second game with three aces by Ashley Rung.

"We were disappointed," Jandrey said. "We just needed to take care of our side of the net and we weren't able to."

"We knew we could fight back," Kester said. "We just had to pick ourselves up and get after it and we would be fine."

The third game became the Jo Kester show early. Kester opened the pivotal game with a block to give her team a lead it would never relinquish. The Bullettes scored six straight points on the serve of senior all-state setter Ashlei Jandrey to grab a 7-0 lead. Kester dominated, putting down four spikes, including one off a diving dig by Ashlee Baker.

Aquinas fought back from a 14-2 deficit. The Lady Dons closed within 14-8 as the teams exchanged nine sideouts before Margaret Keunzler ended it with a spike.

Kester had five kills, three blocks and an ace in the third game.

"Jo Kester is leading our team in kills. We went to her a little bit," Coach Jandrey said. "You go with what got you here."

The teams exchanged the lead five times in the fourth game and were tied at 7 before Mediapolis reeled off three points, including a spike by Nelson and a block by Ashlei Jandrey.

Perhaps the biggest point of the match came with Mediapolis leading 10-8. Wirt lunged headlong into the bench on the right side to dig out a spike and Kester finished it off with an over-the-back dink to an open spot along the left sideline.

Aquinas, behind the hitting of Ping, Braden and Allison Meierotto, closed within 12-11 on a kill by Meierotto.

Mediapolis took a 14-11 lead on a spike by Nelson off a quick set from Jandrey, but Aquinas would not give in. The teams traded 10 sideouts before Kuenzler put the match away with a final kill.

"Our girls battled all the way through," Helling said. "I couldn't be more proud of them. It was a great effort on our part."

Mediapolis (30-4-5)

Kills -- Jo Kester 28, Margaret Kuenzler 10, Ashlee Baker 8, Brenna Nelson 6, Krista Wirt 4, Ashlei Jandrey 3

Assists -- Jandrey 44, Wirt 9, Kester 4

Serving -- Baker 23-23 (1 ace), Jandrey 20-20 (1 ace), Sarah Nelson 17-17, Meta Kramer 15-15 (1 ace), Kester 20-21 (2 aces), Kuenzler 3-3, Wirt 2-2, Laura Spanhut 8-11 (1 ace)

Blocks -- Kester 11, Nelson 11, Wirt 8, Jandrey 6, Kuenzler 1, Baker 1

Digs -- Kramer 19, Kuenzler 16, Jandrey 12, Kester 12, Nelson 11, Baker 10, Wirt 3, Nelson 1

Fort Madison Aquinas (35-3-2)

Kills -- Jill Braden 16, Jenn Ping 16, Jill Helling 9, Allison Meierotto 7, Katie Rung 5, Kelly Pieper 2

Assists -- K.Rung 43

Serving -- Angela Dunlay 16-16, Ping 24-25 (3 aces), K.Rung 19-20 (5 aces), Ashley Rung 14-16 (5 aces), Helling 12-14, Braden 11-14

Blocks -- Meierotto 3, Rung 2, Ping 2, Pieper 2, Braden 1

Digs -- Helling 20, K.Rung 19, Ping 16, Braden 15, Dunlay 12, Maggie Hoenig 10, Pieper 8, Meierotto 6