Mediapolis off to State

By Matt Levins

The Hawk Eye

MUSCATINE -- Two years ago, the Mediapolis High School volleyball team walked off the court at Muscatine Fieldhouse with tears streaming down their faces, dejected and downtrodden after a poor performance against DeWitt Central in a regional semifinal match. The Bullettes walked off the court to the DeWitt Central fans' chants of "How'd you get here?"

Those memories stuck in the backs of the minds of this year's seniors. The Bullettes were intent on showing just how good they are.

This time around, Mediapolis left the crowd befuddled by their quick offense and awestruck by their all-around talent.

Led by a hungry group of seniors, sixth-ranked Mediapolis erased an early deficit, scoring 28 of 31 points in one stretch to blow away Bellevue Marquette 15-6, 15-1, 15-8 in a Class 1A regional final Thursday night at Muscatine Fieldhouse.

Mediapolis (31-4-5) advances to the state tournament for the first time in 10 years and the third time in school history. The Bullettes will play top-ranked Rock Valley (33-1-2) in a Class 1A quarterfinal match at 1 p.m. Nov. 14 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

Rock Valley, which was a state runner-up last year, advanced with a 15-9, 15-17, 15-7, 15-11 victory over second-ranked Hinton. The Rockets won the Class 1A girls state basketball championship last year, beating Hinton in the championship game.

Bellevue Marquette, playing in its first ever regional final, ends the season with a 22-8-2 record

For the Bullettes, who won an Iowa Games gold medal together their eighth-grade year, it is a dream finally come true.

"Every one of these girls deserves this," said Mediapolis senior captain Jo Kester. "We have spent so much time in the gym all year round. It all paid off for us tonight. We are really, really excited. We have been waiting for this since eighth grade. This has been our dream."

"We have worked really hard for this all year. It finally paid off," said Mediapolis senior outside hitter Krista Wirt. "We have heart and we wanted it really bad."

"This is something we have dreamed about for so long. We finally made it," said Mediapolis senior outside hitter Ashlee Baker. "Everyone played great tonight. It was a total team effort."

"It's awesome. This has been our dream," Mediapolis senior setter Ashlei Jandrey said. "We were pretty confident that if we played hard and took care of our side of the net, we would be all right."

"It's great to see this group of kids go to state," Mediapolis coach Dennis Jandrey said. "These kids have put in so much time and effort since seventh grade. There have been times where I couldn't get them out of the gym. These kids have been doing this for six years. It paid off. There's no secret to it."

Bellevue Marquette controlled play early in the first game as Mediapolis worked through some early-match jitters. A block by Alison Huss and an ace by Cassie Kettmann gave the Mohawks a quick 3-2 lead.

Moments later, Bellevue Marquette scored on a Mediapolis hitting error to grab a 4-3 lead.

The Bullettes picked up the momentum from there. A Bellevue Marquette net violation knotted the game at 4. That would be the start of a 10-1 Mediapolis run which zapped the steam out of the Mohawks and instilled a sense of confidence in the Bullettes.

Wirt came up with a cross-court spike and a block. Brenna Nelson added a pair of spikes, one off a quick set. Kester had a pair of blocks. Margaret Kuenzler had a spike off a set from Wirt and Nelson pounded a spike which rolled off the net and found an open hole in the Bellevue Marquette defense.

Suddenly, like a freight train speeding down a steep incline, the Mediapolis offense was in high gear and the Bullettes had a 13-5 lead.

"That really took the air out of us," Bellevue Marquette coach Lisa Schroeder said. "We never got focused on our sideout offense. We would put the ball down and they just seemed to dig everything up. Give Mediapolis credit. They took us out of our game."

"That got us going," Coach Jandrey said. "The kids started to relax and play their game a little bit. This is such a momentum sport. That run really carried over."

"That was crucial because they were playing good volleyball before that," Baker said. "I think they were a little intimidated by it."

The Bullettes put the first game away on a spike by Nelson off a high set the length of the net and a Kuenzler spike which was blocked wide.

Like a hot knife cutting through butter, the Bullettes carved up the Mohawks in the second game. Taking their quick offense to yet another level, Mediapolis had Belleveue Marquette bewildered and frustrated. At one point, after a quick shoot by Ashlei Jandrey led to a big spike by Nelson, the Mohawks looked to their coach in a perplexed daze.

"We have never seen that short shoot set along the net before," Schroeder said. "That was completely new to us. We tried to find out about them, but we don't have the personnel to go out and scout. They run a very quick offense."

The Bullettes raced to a 10-0 lead in the second game, scoring all 10 points on the serve of Meta Kramer. Kester had three spikes, two blocks and a tip in the sequence.

Mediapolis came up with three stellar plays in the second game:

n Kramer came up with a spectacular dig and a nifty pass off a Mohawks' spike. Kester took the pass and slammed home a spike of her own.

n Ashlei Jandrey came up with a sensational dig off a spike by Kettmann, which Kester converted into another spike.

n Kester dove to the floor near the net to save a tipped ball and Jandrey tipped it to the back row for a Mediapolis point.

The Bullettes ended the second game on a cross-court spike by Wirt to take a commanding 2-games-to-none lead.

Belleveue Marquette took a brief 2-1 lead in the third game, but could not slow down the Bullettes.

Ashlei Jandrey sent the Bullettes on their way to a victory in the third game, going to her knees to set a ball for Baker, who slammed it home to tie the game at 2. That sent the Bullettes on a 5-0 run as they seized control.

Bellevue Marquette got within 7-6 before Mediapolis put the match away.

A spike by Kuenzler gave the Bullettes match point at 14-8.

"We had been waiting for this game for a long time," Kester said. "We had to go through a lot of good teams to get here. Now we were one point away finally."

Fittingly, Kuenzler ended the match on a spike which was blocked wide, setting off a wild celebration by the Bullettes and their large contingent of fans. It was Kuenzler who was on the court two years ago in the embarrassing loss to DeWitt Central.

"We finally did it," Kester said.

"I had faith in our seniors. We really wanted it," Wirt said.

"We've all played so much volleyball together. We were hungry. We wanted it bad," Baker said.

"Our kids believe they have a chance on every ball," Coach Jandrey said. "They honestly believe that if they get on the floor, they can dig every ball back up. If you look at some of their elbows and knees, they are black and blue. They believe it is going to happen."

"Our girls have never seen so many athletes coming at them from so many directions," Schroeder said. "They are just great athletes."

Mediapolis (31-4-5)

Kills -- Jo Kester 12, Margaret Kuenzler 11, Brenna Nelson 10, Ashlee Baker 6, Ashlie Jandrey 5, Krista Wirt 3

Assists -- Jandrey 34, Wirt 5

Serving -- Kester 14-14, Kuenzler 1-1, Baker 12-13, Laura Spanhut 2-3, Sarah Schulte 11-13, Jandrey 12-14 (1 ace), Meta Kramer 15-17 (1 ace)

Blocks -- Kester 4, Nelson 3, Wirt 3, Jandrey 3, Baker 2, Kuenzler 1

Digs -- Baker 11, Kuenzler 8, Kramer 7, Kester 6, Jandrey 5, Schulte 4

Bellevue Marquette (22-8-2)

Kills -- Abbey Herrig 8, Alison Huss 5, Cassie Kettmann 4

Assists -- Kelly Neubert 11

Serving -- Kettmann 3 aces, Ashly Clark 1 ace

Blocks -- Huss 4, Herrig 2, Kettmann 1, Tiffany Richman 1

Digs -- Richman 13, Kettman 8, Neubert 7, Jenni Bies 7