Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – As a senior in a lineup filled with underclassmen Maddie Manifold is always trying to be a leader.

When the postseason rolled around Manifold knew in order to extend the season she had to take her leadership and her overall play up a few notches.
So far, so good for the Solon senior.

Manifold matched teammate Sophia Hoeper with a match-high 10 kills and got plenty of help from her younger teammates in a 25-12, 25-20, 25-21 sweep of Fort Madison on Tuesday in a Class 4A, Region 8 quarterfinal in Solon.

“I try to show my leadership and treat it like every other game,” Manifold said. “We are still going, we still have a shot and we just want to keep it going.”

Manifold made sure the Spartans kept their season going on Tuesday.

The senior had five of her match-high 10 kills in the opening set as Solon (15-22) advanced to take on Central DeWitt (16-12) in the Region 8 semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“We had to not let it get to our heads and focus on what we needed to get done,” Manifold said. “We knew what to do we just had to put it into action.”

A three-year starter Manifold has been through the rigors of the regular season and the stress of the postseason play before.

Manifold joins libero Alexa Hupfeld, who also played well on Tuesday, in providing a veteran presence on a team with two freshman and a sophomore playing prominent roles.

“She has been a two or three year starter and gives us a lot of experience,” Solon coach Jeff Walker said of Manifold. “She is a big help for our younger kids.”

On Tuesday Manifold got the Spartans going early. She had five kills in the opening set including three in a 8-2 run that closed out a 25-12 win in set one.

“I just try to bring positivity and show the younger girls what needs to be done,” Manifold said. “If they are getting down I try to pick them up and help them as much as I can.”

Fort Madison (8-26) took an 8-2 lead early in the second set and led 16-14 after a 5-0 burst.

Solon answered quickly with a 6-0 run of its own and would trail again.

Sophomore Brynn Deike had a pair of ace serves in the 6-0 spurt that sparked an 11-4 run for Solon to end the second set.

“We tend to do that a lot where we go up and down,” Walker said. “We just had to work through the down part of it and get ourselves back up to where we can play.

Solon snapped a 10-all tie in the third set with a 7-1 run that would give the Spartans a lead they would never give up.

Manifold had plenty of help on Tuesday as four different Spartans had at least six kills.

Junior Delaney Bombei had eight kills and four blocks while freshman Aly Stahle added six kills.

Deike had two kills and three ace serves and Kylee Flynn and Bombei each had a pair of aces.

“It’s really important to have that great set of hitters because not everyone is going to do as hot every night,” Manifold said. “You have to have multiple people so they don’t know what to expect.”

Solon                             25  25  25

Fort Madison             12  20  21

Solon (Kills-aces-blocks)

Brynn Deike 2-3-0, Sophia Stahle 0-1-0, Maddie Manifold 10-1-0, Delaney Bombei 8-2-4, Yasmine Sell 3-0-2, Kylee Flynn 0-2-0, Sophia Hoeper 10-0-0, Aly Stahle 6-0-0, Team 39-9-6.

Assists – Brynn Deike 22, Kylee Flynn 6

Fort Madison (Kills-aces-blocks)

Alaina Simpson 6-1-0, Aija Jenkins 1-0-0, Taylor Johnson 1-0-0, Hattie Schrepfer 0-1-0, Molly Knipe 1-0-0, Genevieve Ruble 3-0-0, Anna Lynk 7-1-0, Lauryn Helmick 0-2-0, Totals 19-4-0.

Assists – Molly Knipe 8, Madison Pirri 1

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