SOLON — A pair of 3-0 wins sent the Lady Spartans to the Class 3A Region 8 championship match against No. 4-ranked Assumption Catholic Tuesday, October 24 in Davenport (after this edition was printed) for a spot in the 2023 State Tournament.
Solon defeated the Central Lee Hawks in the quarterfinals Tuesday, October 17 25-10, 25-12, and 25-14.
Addie Miller put up the first kill of the night for a 1-0 lead and sparked a 6-1 lead including an ace serve by Brynn Deike and kills from Yasmine Sell and Jozie Lahr in set one. Solon racked up an 11-3 lead prompting a Hawks timeout. A Kennedy Whitford ace made it 15-5 while another Lahr kill made it 21-6 and prompted another timeout. Sell ended the set with a kill.
The Hawks kept the second set close at first, but an Aly Stahle kill, a Lahr ace, and a block by Grace Erwin and Deike made it 8-5. Another Erwin kill made it 11-6, a Lahr kill made it 20-11, and a block by Lahr made it 24-12 before set point.
Miller opened the third set with a kill for the 1-0 lead, but the Hawks tied and pulled ahead 4-3, extending their lead 6-4. A block by Erwin made it 6-5 in favor of Central Lee. An ace serve by Sell tied the set 7-7. Solon retook the lead 8-7 and never looked back as an Erwin kill made it 10-7, a Miller kill made it 12-8, and a Whitford ace made it 15-8. Erwin got set and match point with a kill as well.
Yasmine Sell led all with 11 kills, Erwin and Lahr made nine each, with six by Miller, three from Deike, two by Gable Knight, and one from Britta Elijah. Erwin made one solo block with three assists, Deike, Lahr, and Sell made two block assists each. Whitford produced three ace serves with one each by Deike, Lahr, Stahle, and Sell.
The Tipton Tigers fell 25-19, 25-13, and 25-12 Thursday, October 19 in the semifinals. The Tigers drew first blood, but Lahr equalized with a kill for a 1-1 tie in the first set. Miller gave Solon a 3-2 lead with a kill, which extended to 8-4 as Erwin made a solo block and slammed the ball back at the Tigers. A Lahr and Deike block made it 12-9, Deike pushed the ball over the net for a 14-10 advantage, and a rocket from Knight made it 16-10 and led to a Tiger timeout. A pair of Erwin kills made it 19-13 and 20-15 before Lahr dropped the ball over the net for set point.
Solon held a 4-2 lead in set two before Knight scored back-to-back for a 5-2 and 6-3 lead. A block by Sell made it 9-3, an Erwin kill made it 10-3, and a block by Erwin made it 12-3. The Tigers took a timeout, down 16-5. A Miller kill made it 18-5 while a Lahr block made it 21-8 before Erwin got set point with another kill.
Lahr opened the third set with a kill for a 1-0 lead, a Knight/Lahr block made it 7-1 and prompted yet another Tipton timeout before rallying to a 10-5 deficit. Erwin bombed the Tigers to make it 11-5 on the way to a 20-10 advantage Britta Elijah entered the game with Solon up 22-12 and produced a kill, her fourth of the season, to make it 24-12. Elijah and Brynn Deike are the Lady Spartans’ only seniors this season.
Tipton’s Avary Calonder led all with 16 kills while Erwin led Solon with 14. Lahr produced ten, Sell matched her jersey number with nine, Knight made seven, Miller had four, and Elijah and Deike produced one apiece. Deike made 41 assists while Erwin, Lahr, and Sell had two solo blocks each. Erwin made two block assists with one each from Deike and Lahr.
“We’ve been working really hard at executing our offense and that really played out for us in this match,” said Coach Mikayla Siddell, speaking about the Tipton match. “We know what plays we want to run and that really helped us.” As for Elijah coming in and putting up a kill, Siddell said, “It was her last home game and I wanted to get the seniors in there and make sure they got some time. It’s bittersweet to see them go but she’s been a great team leader, she’s been awesome.”
Looking ahead to Assumption, Coach Siddell acknowledged the past two encounters with the Knights this season had been challenging. “It’s been a battle each time, we’ve been pretty close with them, and they’ve pulled out ahead of us, but if we are ‘on’ and take care of our side and do minimal errors, I think that we have a good shot.”
We will have a full report in next week’s edition on racks Wednesday, Nov. 1 and in mailboxes Thursday, Nov. 2.
Gable Knight (13) lines up a kill shot against the Central Lee Hawks in a 3A Region 8 quarterfinal match Tuesday, October 17 at home.