Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The Field

No. 1 Liberty High (34-4) vs. No. 10 Johnston (27-11)

In just its fifth season as a varsity program Liberty High is making its third consecutive state tournament appearance.

The Lightning are 92-10 over the last three seasons and are coming off a 5A runner-up finish last fall.

Liberty High is led by a tandem of junior all-state hitters in Cassidy Hartman and Shelby Kimm.

Hartman has a team-high 392 kills while Kimm ranks second on the team with 258 kills and the duo has combined for 725 digs, 77 blocks and 77 ace serves this season.

Johnston is making its first state tournament appearance since 2015 after downing ninth-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy in four sets in the regional final.

All 11 losses for the Dragons this season have come to top-10 ranked teams including nine to state tournament qualifiers.

Senior Dasha Svitashev leads a group of four Players with at least 220 kills for Johnston with a team-high 290 on .256 hitting efficiency.

Sophomores Ava Helming (249 kills) and Josie Pundt (220 kills) join senior Maren Rasmussen (156) as Dragons with more than 150 kills.

No. 4 Cedar Falls (30-8) vs. No. 5 West Des Moines Dowling (27-12)

An opening round rematch features two of the most successful 5A programs in the state over the last decade and a couple of state tournament regulars.

Cedar Falls is making its seventh consecutive state tournament appearance and won state titles in 2017 and 2019.

The Tigers won a pair of regular season meetings over Dowling downing the Maroons 2-1 on August 28 and again on September 21.

Cedar Falls is 2-3 against 5A state qualifiers with all eight of the Tigers losses coming to state qualifiers.

Junior Katie Remmert leads the Tigers with 419 kills and ranks second on the team with 291 kills while junior setter Nohea Mahi has 875 assists.

West Des Moines Dowling extended its 5A-leading streak of consecutive state tournament appearances to 10 this season after reaching the 5A semifinals for the first time since 2013.

The 12 losses for West Des Moines Dowling are the most for any 5A qualifier but have all come to state tournament qualifiers.

West Des Moines Dowling is 5-7 against 5A state qualifiers and owns wins over top-ranked Liberty High, Urbandale and Johnston.

Sophomore Mackenzie Dean leads four players with more than 160 kills with a team-high 303 while senior Piper Kirchhoff has 206 kills.

No. 2 Pleasant Valley (30-4) vs. No. 7 Ankeny Centennial (30-9)

Pleasant Valley is making its third consecutive state tournament appearance after falling in the 5A semifinals each of the past two seasons.

Three of the four losses for the Spartans have come to top-ranked teams this season with Pleasant Valley falling to Liberty High, Dike-New Hartford and Western Dubuque.

The Spartans have won 10 of their last 11 matches and have only dropped three sets during that stretch.

Senior setter Kora Ruff directs a Pleasant Valley attack that has four players with at least 170 kills.

Juniors Halley Vice (259 kills) and Chloe Cline (217) lead the way while senior Arra Cottrell has 193 kills.

Ankeny Centennial returns to the state tournament for the second year in a row and eighth time in the last nine seasons.

If the Jaguars are in the state tournament they are a threat to win it all, claiming four 5A titles since 2014.

The nine losses for Ankeny Centennial are third most among 5A qualifiers but the Jaguars have posted a 4-1 record against 5A state qualifiers with wins over four different teams in the 5A field.

Centennial has five different players with more than 100 kills led by senior Monica Mirembe with 213 and senior Marissa Meyer with 173.

No. 3 Ankeny (39-5) vs. No. 6 Urbandale (33-8)

The third meeting of the season between two CIML rivals is a winner-take-all rubber match with a spot in the 5A semifinals up for grabs.

Defending 5A state champion Ankeny swept Urbandale in three sets in a regular season match on September 9 and the J-Hawks returned the favor with a 2-0 win over the Hawks nine days later at the Waukee Invitational.

Ankeny is making its 20^th state tournament appearance and fourth straight trip to state after claiming its fifth state title last season and first since 2009.

The Hawks are 5-4 against 5A state qualifiers this season with wins over Urbandale, West Des Moines Dowling, Johnston and Liberty High.

Senior all-stater Ava Reynolds leads a group of five Ankeny players with more than 100 kills with a team-high 388 and sophomore Aowyn Schrader has 276 kills.

Urbandale is making its first trip to state since 2017 and enters on an eight-match winning streak.

The J-Hawks haven’t dropped a set during their current winning streak that includes wins over eighth-ranked West Des Moines Valley and Johnston.

Urbandale is 4-6 against 5A state qualifiers with wins over Ankeny Centennial, Ankeny and Johnston.

Junior Lily Dykstra leads 5A with 603 kills this season while junior Lauren Nepper has 194 kills and senior Attiyah Lazard has 182 kills.

The Faces

Liberty High: Cassidy Hartman, 6-0, Jr. A Northern Iowa commit and elite all-state selection last season Hartman has led the Lightning in kills each of the past three seasons and needs 27 to reach 1,000 for her career.

Johnston: Dasha Svitashev, 5-9, Sr. An honorable mention all-state pick last season Svitashev leads the Dragons in both kills (290) and digs (266) and ranks third on the team with 30 ace serves.

Cedar Falls: Alivia Bronner, 5-7, Sr., A Northern Iowa recruit and second-team all-state selection a year ago Bronner ranks eighth in 5A with 431 digs and ranks third in 5A with 51 ace serves.

West Des Moines Dowling: Samantha Schroeder, 6-1, Sr., Schroder leads Class 5A with 106 blocks to go with 196 kills on a team-high .287 hitting efficiency.

Pleasant Valley: Kora Ruff, 5-8, Sr. An Evansville commit, Ruff has more than 3,000 career assists and leads 5A this season with 9.9 assists per set.

Ankeny Centennial: Monica Mirembe, 6-0, Sr., The leading hitter for the Jaguars with 213 kills on a .315 efficiency, Mirembe also ranks fourth in 5A with 84 blocks.

Ankeny: Ava Reynolds, 5-11, Sr., A first-team all-state pick last season Reynolds ranks fifth in 5A with 388 kills (4 per set) and has 201 digs and 23 blocks.

Urbandale: Lily Dykstra, 6-0, Jr. Among the most prolific hitters in the state this season Dykstra leads 5A with 603 kills, (5.9 per set) in a 5A-high 1,356 attempts.

The Favorite

The 2021 5A field appears as deep and as balanced from top to bottom as any in recent memory.

Ankeny is the defending state champion, Ankeny Centennial and Cedar Falls have combined to won six of the last seven 5A titles and second-ranked Pleasant Valley has just four losses and has reached the semifinals in back-to-back seasons.

Even with all that said Liberty High enters the state tournament as the favorite.

The defending 5A runner-up, Liberty is experienced now in its third consecutive trip to state, has won 11 consecutive matches without dropping a set and features one of the most dynamic hitting duos in the state with Hartman and Kimm.

The Lightning are also tested with a 7-2 mark against 5A state qualifiers that includes wins over five of the seven teams in the 5A field.

The Forecast

The 5A tournament should be thrilling from the beginning with marquee matchups from start to finish.

There is a possible semifinal rematch waiting if Liberty High and West Des Moines Dowling can each get past challenging semifinals.

Liberty High and West Des Moines Dowling met three times during the regular season with Liberty winning the first two and Dowling winning the most recent meeting in five sets at Liberty High on September 30.

The bottom half of the bracket could go either way but a Pleasant Valley vs. Ankeny showdown in the semifinals would be another semifinal rematch if seeds hold.

Ankeny knocked off Pleasant Valley in the semifinals last season.

If Liberty High is to win its first state title on Thursday why not do so in a title game rematch with perennial power Ankeny?

The Focus

Can Liberty High close it out?
The Lightning have quickly ascended into a 5A powerhouse and played that role to perfection during the regular season.

After a runner-up finish a year ago Liberty High coach Randy Dolson beefed up the schedule and the Lightning were more than up to the task going 34-4 with 14 wins over state tournament qualifiers including seven wins against 5A qualifiers.

The Lightning are loaded with talent and depth and now have state tournament experience after back-to-back trips to state including a runner-up finish a year ago.

Five Fast Facts

*– Of the eight losses for Cedar Falls six have come to top-ranked teams as the Tigers lost matches to the No. 1 team in Class 5A (Liberty High), 4A (Western Dubuque), 3A (Davenport Assumption and 2A (Dike-New Hartford).

*– Liberty High enters the state meet on a 5A-leading 11 match winning streak in which the Lightning have won 25 consecutive sets.

*– Last season Ankeny became the first team other than Ankeny Centennial or Cedar Falls to win the 5A since 2013.

*– Liberty High junior Cassidy Hartman is the only player in the 5A field with more than 300 kills (392) and 300 digs (386).

*– The 603 kills for Urbandale junior Lily Dykstra this season are the most in the state and 106 more than any other player in Class 5A.

The Schedule

Quarterfinals, November 1  

Liberty High (34-4) vs. Johnston (27-11), Noon

Cedar Falls (30-8) vs. West Des Moines Dowling (27-12), 2 p.m.

Pleasant Valley (30-4) vs. Ankeny Centennial (30-9), Noon

Ankeny (39-5) vs. Urbandale (33-8), 2 p.m.

Semifinals, November 3

Liberty High/Johnston winner vs. Cedar Falls/Dowling winner, 10 a.m.

Pleasant Valley/Ankeny Centennial winner vs. Ankeny/Urbandale winner, 10 a.m.

Championship, November 4

Semifinal winners, 10 a.m.

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