Ticket Punched, Back to State - Tigers triumphant over Spartans in four

LA PORTE CITY - Emma Minteer was terrified of serving as a freshman last season. 

Club play last winter and dedicated offseason work rectified that fear for the South Hardin sophomore left pin, and paid dividends as she nailed five aces in a 9-0 service run to wrestle momentum away permanently from 2A 10th-ranked Grundy Center in the third set of the Region 6 Championship on Wednesday. 

“I just feel more confident around this team in our second year together,” Minteer said. “I just kept serving at that same spot and didn’t change anything about it. I don’t think I’ll ever experience something quite like this again.”

Several of these runs in the latter two sets flipped the tables for 2A sixth-ranked South Hardin volleyball as they conquered the Spartans 19-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-8 to advance to the State Volleyball Tournament for the first time since 2021. 

“I'm very excited for these girls to get their time on the State court,” South Hardin co-coach John Teske said. “These four seniors all watched that 2021 team, two of them playing. They earned this banner. We were down and fought our way back. This shows immense growth and that will be the biggest takeaway I take from tonight as we celebrate.”

The Tigers quickly erased an early 5-1 deficit in the first set, yet found themselves down 15-11 a Spartan ace. Fortune wasn’t smiling on South Hardin in the set, as a string of scrambles, saves and other unusual plays seemed to be going in Grundy Center’s favor. The Tigers made a late push, but were too little late to rally back in a 25-19 loss. 

“Those crazy points seemed like they were all going Grundy Center’s way,” Teske said. “And we were just erroring on our swings. I knew both would even out and we had time to get back to playing Tiger volleyball.”

Grundy Center appeared in control early in the second set, starting off on a 11-6 run. Slowly, South Hardin’s offense started to click with a balanced attack from Minteer, senior Alli Sheldahl and untimely Spartan errors helped the Tigers take a 20-19 late lead. Grundy Center’s Ryanne Brubaker laid down two thunderous kills to put the score at 24-23, but Minteer had the set point to tie the match at 1-1. 

“We worked on a lot more stuff than what we did the last time we played [Grundy Center],” Minteer said. “They changed their rotations, so we had to hit in different spots. I definitely say it was harder, but we did it.”

The momentum swung in South Hardin’s direction as the Tigers went on that aforementioned 9-0 run in the third set, made possible by Minteer’s serving. Grundy Center didn’t have an immediate answer, missing a serve and committing to violations to fuel the run. Hitting errors kill the run, but never the lead. A series of kills by Shedahl, including the set point to take a 2-1 lead. 

“We focused on being the grittier team,” senior Ava Salvo said. “I feel like we weren’t playing our best volleyball to start. Then we hit our spots, took the setter out of system. But what Emma did tonight gave us the confidence we needed. I’m so proud of her tonight.” 

South Hardin found itself totally in control going into the fourth set, taking a 10-1 lead and Grundy Center exhausting both its timeouts seeking an answer. The Tigers came out with a balanced attack, Salvo strung together 12 serves in a row, and nothing the Spartans threw out could stop a 25-8 fourth set loss. After coming up a game short of State last season, the Tigers earned their stripes and a brand new banner on Wednesday. 

“This is what us seniors have worked for since fourth grade,” Salvo said. “I’m probably not sleeping tonight. We came out and finished this game. I’m just so proud of everyone. But I know we can still play better volleyball.”

Sheldahl led the Tigers with 13 kills and five blocks. Minteer had 12 kills and her five aces. Salvo finished with 11 kills and five aces, junior Nora Warburton five kills. Senior Abby Teske led the Tigers defensively with 16 digs, Salvo 11 digs. 

“I like how they were down and battled back,” Teske said. “We’re heading to State, where teams aren’t just going to roll over for us. When the chips are stacked against us, I hope we learn from this moment and continue to battle for us as far as we can go.”

The Tigers (26-8) advance to the State Volleyball Tournament in Coralville and will play in the Class 2A quarterfinals on Tuesday. Their opponent will be powerhouse Beckman Catholic (35-6) on Court Two, with first serve scheduled for 4:25 p.m. 

“We have to play like we did these last two sets, if not better,” Salvo said. “Battle for every point. I still think we can play better and that’s our goal for State. We aren’t going there wanting to play one game and be done.”