Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – It’s been a stellar start to the season for City High.

The Little Hawks capped an unbeaten opening week of the regular season by going 3-0 with wins over ranked teams Marion and Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln last Thursday at the Johnston Quadrangular.

In it’s home opener on Tuesday City High simply ran into a buzz saw in Class 3A fourth-ranked Dubuque Wahlert.

Dubuque Wahlert (2-0) had four players with at least seven kills and rolled to a 25-19, 25-21, 25-17 sweep of City High in a Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division match at City High.

“Give credit to Wahlert their serving was outstanding,” City High coach Carolyn Giese said. “We really struggled with our serve receive tonight because they were serving really well and they have a lot of strength on their team. They have good hitters, their setting is phenomenal so you have to give them credit for what they did tonight.”

Brielle Berning and Claire Lueken each had eight kills and Audrey Tschiggfrie and Anna Roling each added seven for Dubuque Wahlert which posted its second consecutive MVC Valley Divisions sweep to open the season.

City High (4-1) got a match-high 10 kills from senior Emmy McComas, sophomore Katilin Loria had eight kills and sophomore Hattie Galloway added five for the Little Hawks.

“The girls are learning a ton, we have a lot of young players, our setter is a freshman, Hattie and Kaitlin are both sophomores and with a home opener there were some jitters,” Giese said. “We did a lot of great things last week and we just kind of fell short tonight.”

Wahlert made plays late in each of the first two sets on Tuesday.

The Golden Eagles broke open a 15-14 opening set with a 7-2 run that started with an ace block by junior Karley Belken included three kills from Berning.

Dubuque Wahlert scored the final points of the second set on its way to a 25-21 win.

Roling had three kills and Maddie Mohr had an ace serve during the 5-0 set-clinching run for Wahlert.

“We are just sort of continuing to refine things and I think it’s only going to get better and better and better,” Giese said.

City High won’t have to wait long for a chance to get back on track.

The Little Hawks host their own tournament on Saturday and will face a field that includes top-10 opponents Ankeny Centennial (third in Class 5A), Council Bluffs Lewis Central (seventh in 4A), Regina (10^th in Class 2A) as well as 5A No. 13 Bettendorf and Regina.

“We have quite a bit of depth in a lot of positions and we are feeling out what works best and if somebody is on fire we leave them in and if somebody is struggling we have somebody that can come in and help shift that energy and do whatever it is we need from them,” Giese said. “We are trying to keep it really competitive within the team as well.”

City High                        19  21  17

Dubuque Wahlert     25  25  25

City High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Hazel Schluckebier 1-0-0, Maeve Obermueller 1-0-0, Georgia Sieben 0-1-0, Halle Larew 1-0-0, Kaitlin Loria 8-0-1, Hattie Galloway 5-0-0, Emmy McComas 10-1-1, Molly Carlson 0-1-0, Totals 25-3-2.

Assists – Hazel Schluckebier 24

Dubuque Wahlert (Kills-aces-blocks)

Olivia Donovan 4-1-0, Audrey Tschiggfrie 7-1-0, Anna Roling 7-0-0, Brielle Berning 8-0-1, Karley Belken 4-0-2, Claire Lueken 8-2-1, Totals 38-5-4.

Assists – Olivia Donovan 31

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