Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The Matchups

No. 5 West Des Moines Valley (19-6) vs. No. 4 Liberty High (22-2)

Liberty High returns to the state tournament for the second straight season seeking the first state tournament win in program history.

The Lightning dropped their state tournament debut falling to Pleasant Valley in the quarterfinals last season but enter this week playing as well as any team in the 5A field.

Liberty High brings a 14-match winning streak into state tournament play, a stretch that includes 10 wins over ranked teams including victories over state tournament qualifiers Cedar Rapids Xavier, Cedar Falls, Wilton and Western Dubuque.

Both losses for Liberty High this season came on the road in four sets to 5A qualifier West Des Moines Dowling and quarterfinal foe West Des Moines Valley.

West Des Moines Valley posted a 25-19, 25-15, 17-25, 25-23 win over Liberty High as part of a triangular on October 3.

Two of the top hitters in the state square off in this matchup in West Des Moines Valley junior Hayden Kubik and Liberty High sophomore Cassidy Hartman.

Each player had 18 kills in the regular season meeting in West Des Moines.

Hartman leads Liberty High with 269 kills while fellow sophomore has 167 kills and junior Sam Harvey has added 110 for the Lightning.

Senior setter Hailey Hested is a four-year starter and leads Liberty High with 394 assists while Kimm has a team-high 49 blocks and senior Lauren Roman has 43.

A Nebraska recruit, Kubik is the key for West Des Moines Valley leading the Tigers with 301 kills.

Senior Payton Lombardi has 95 kills, senior Anna Bernhard 92 and freshman Gabby Lombardi 85 for the defending 5A runner-up Tigers.

West Des Moines Valley is making its fifth consecutive state tournament appearance and seeking a third trip to the title game in four seasons after falling to Cedar Falls in the championship match in 2017 and last season.

No. 1 West Des Moines Dowling (21-2) vs. No. 8 Dubuque Hempstead (20-5)

West Des Moines Dowling holds the longest active 5A streak for state tournament appearances with nine but has lost in the opening round each of the past six seasons.

The Maroons haven’t won a quarterfinal since 2013, dropping its sixth consecutive state tournament opener to rival West Des Moines Valley last season.

West Des Moines Dowling has proved throughout the regular season it is fully capable of snapping that streak this season and enters Monday riding an eight-match winning streak that includes back-to-back regional sweeps of Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson and No. 10 Sioux City East.

The Maroons are 6-2 against 5A state qualifiers this season with their losses coming to Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial.

West Des Moines Dowling also owns wins over both of those teams as well as two wins over Valley and a win over Liberty High.

Dowling features one of the most balanced attacks in the 5A field with four players with 149 or more kills led by senior Olivia Nahas with 225.

Dubuque Hempstead returned to state for the first time since 2017 with a four-set regional final victory over Linn-Mar in which senior Corinne Meier hammered a school-record 38 kills while hitting .457.

Meier is the clear focal point for the Mustangs, leading Class 5A with 392 kills and ranking fourth with 4.8 per set.

6-foot-1 senior Becca Lockwood has 127 kills and a team-high 100 blocks, ranking third in 5A with 1.2 blocks per set.

Senior setter Morgan Hawkins has 747 assists.

No. 2 Ankeny (19-2) vs. No. 7 Ankeny Centennial (16-9), 10 a.m.

Last season it was cross-town rivals West Des Moines Valley and West Des Moines Dowling that extended their rivalry to Cedar Rapids in a 5A quarterfinal.

This season it is the two Ankeny rivals that meet in the opening round in round two of the cross-town rivalry this season.

Ankeny won the regular season meeting at Centennial in four sets back on September 29.

A state semifinalist a year ago, Ankeny is making its third consecutive state tournament appearance.

The Hawks lost twice to top-ranked Dowling in its first seven matches this season but has rattled off 14 wins since including a four-set win over the Maroons on September 26.

Ankeny didn’t drop a set in October, winning 19 straight during the month, and has won 21 in a row since dropping the second set in its win over Ankeny Centennial on Sept. 29^.

Junior Ava Reynolds leads four Hawks with more than 125 kills with a team-high 206 while senior McKenna Scheib has 134 kills and a team-high 58 blocks.

Ankeny Centennial returns to state for the seventh time in eight seasons after a one-year hiatus and will look to continue one of the most dominant postseason stretches by a large class school in state history.

The Jaguars have won four titles in five seasons from 2014 to 2018 before failing to qualify last season.

In order to get another title shot this season Centennial will have to get past its arch rival in the opener.

Centennial lost eight of its final 13 games to close the regular season but rebounded to down ninth-ranked Urbandale in five sets in the regional final.

Junior Marissa Meyer leads a balanced Centennial attack with 125 kills while junior Monica Mirembe has 123 kills and Olivia Anderson has 119.

No. 3 Pleasant Valley (20-1) vs. No. 6 Cedar Falls (26-5) 12:30 p.m.

One of the most intriguing matchups of the opening round features a pair of semifinalists from last season.

Pleasant Valley is making its second straight trip to state after falling to West Des Moines Valley in the 5A semifinals a year ago.

The lone loss for the Spartans this season came to West Des Moines Valley at the Mount Vernon Invite on September 26 with Pleasant Valley rolling off 12 consecutive wins since.

Pleasant Valley is 0-1 against teams in the 5A field but has five wins over top-five ranked state qualifiers in Class 3A and 4A.

Junior setter Kora Ruff is one of the best in the state and leads the Spartans with 579 kills to go with 22 ace serves and 182 digs.

Sophomore Chloe Cline leads four Pleasant Valley players with more than 125 kills with a team-high 180.

Defending 5A champion Cedar Falls is making its sixth consecutive state tournament appearance and is seeking a third title in four seasons after defeating West Des Moines Valley in the state title game in both 2017 and 2019.

The Tigers went 2-2 in their final four games of the regular season but bounced back to sweep Waterloo West in the regional final.

Three Tigers have ore than 230 kills this season led by junior Anisia Smith with 259. Senior Emmy Wedgbury has 234 kills and sophomore Katie Remmert has 230.

The Faces

Liberty High: Cassidy Hartman, 6-0, Soph. The MVC Mississippi Division player of the year, Hartman leads Liberty High with 269 kills and ranks fourth in 5A with 4.2 kills per set.

West Des Moines Valley: Hayden Kubik, 6-2, Jr. Kubik is one of the elite hitters in the state and among the top juniors nationally. The Nebraska recruit ranks second in the state with 4.9 kills per set on a .257 hitting percentage.

West Des Moines Dowling: Lauren Havlik, 6-1, Sr. Havlik is a key at the net for the top-ranked Maroons ranking second on the team with 199 kills and leading Dowling with 63 blocks.

Ankeny: Phyona Schrader, 6-1, Sr. A Notre Dame recruit, Schrader is a versatile weapon at setter leading the Hawks with 494 assists and 4A ace serves while ranking second on the team with 142 kills and 50 blocks.

Ankeny Centennial: Monica Mirembe, 6-0, Jr. Ranks second on the team with 123 kills and leads the Jaguars with 71 blocks which ranks ninth in 5A.

Pleasant Valley: Kora Ruff, 5-9, Jr. A second-team all-state selection last season as a sophomore Ruff has solidified her status as one of the state’s top setters this fall ranking second in 5A with 10 assists per set.
Cedar Falls: Alivia Bronner, 5-7, Jr. A unanimous first-team all MVC pick, Bronner is among the top back row players in the state and averages a 5A-best 5.8 digs per set and leads the Tigers with 46 ace serves.

Dubuque Hempstead: Corinne Meier, 6-1, Sr. Middle Tennessee State recruit has a 5A-leading 392 kills this season after hammering a career-high 38 in the regional final.

The Favorite

Each of the past six seasons have ended with Ankeny Centennial or Cedar Falls hoisting the 5A trophy.

You have to go back to 2013 to find the last time that the Class 5A championship wasn’t won by one of those two power programs with Ankeny Centennial winning three straight from 2014 to 2016 and another in 2018 and Cedar Falls taking championships in 2017 and 2019.

Even with both of those teams in the field the favorite entering play on Monday is top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling.

The Maroons have lost six straight state tournament openers but are experienced, balanced, talented, battle tested with eight matches against 5A qualifiers and have won their last eight matches.

The Forecast

In a field that features the defending champion, four teams with two or fewer losses and three teams that have reached the tournament five or more years in a row the 5A tournament could be the most entertaining and toughest to predict of any of the five classes.

Dowling would like nothing more than to reach the title game with a win over rival Valley but the Tigers have to get past a red-hot Liberty High team in the opener.

If Ankeny can survive a rematch with rival Centennial in the opener the Hawks could get another shot at Cedar Falls after falling to the Tigers in the semis last season.

As a five seed Liberty High isn’t a true sleeper but the Lightning have been impressive over the past several weeks and are capable of avenging regular season losses to Valley and Dowling en route to the title game.

The Focus

Can the field snap the streak of dominance by Centennial and Cedar Falls?

With the two teams responsible for the last six 5A titles seeded sixth and seventh it certainly seems like an easy answer but knocking those two out of a state tournament never comes without a fight.

If it does indeed happen who emerges as the new ruler in 5A?

The rankings say Dowling but as action has shown this season there isn’t much separation from one to eight.

Five Fast Facts

*- Six of the eight state qualifiers from last season return this year including all four semifinalists from 2019.

*- Half of the teams in the 5A field have won a state title with Ankeny and Dubuque Hempstead joining Ankeny Centennial and Cedar Falls as those that have won a championship.

*- Ankeny was the last team in the 5A field other than Ankeny Centennial or Cedar Falls to win a championship, claiming the title in 2009.

*- Liberty leads all teams in the 5A field with 103 solo blocks this season with Shelby Kimm (39) and Lauren Roman (21) accounting for 60 of those ace blocks.

*- Only four players in 5A averaged more than 4 kills per set this season and three of those players are in the 5A field this week. Valley junior Hayden Kubik (4.9), Hempstead senior Corinne Meier (4.8) and Liberty High sophomore Cassidy Hartman (4.2).

The Schedule

Quarterfinals, November 2

West Des Moines Dowling (21-2) vs. Dubuque Hempstead (20-5), 10 a.m.

West Des Moines Valley (19-6) vs. Liberty High (22-2), 12:30 p.m.

Ankeny (19-2) vs. Ankeny Centennial (16-9), 10 a.m.

Pleasant Valley (20-1) vs. Cedar Falls (26-5) 12:30 p.m.

Semifinals, November 4

West Des Moines Dowling/Dubuque Hempstead winner vs. West Des Moines Valley/Liberty High winner, 10 a.m.

Ankeny/Ankeny Centennial winner vs. Pleasant Valley/Cedar Falls winner 10 a.m.

Championship, November 5

Semifinal winners, 10 a.m.

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