Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Regina narrowly missed a pair of wins over ranked teams last Saturday.

The Regals couldn’t cash in on another opportunity against a ranked opponent on Thursday falling to Class 3A No. 15 Wilton 25-19, 25-17, 25-21 in a River Valley Conference South Division match in Iowa City.

Despite the recent near misses Regina coach Lauren Hansen is confident the big wins are coming for her young Regina team.

“We are right there,” Hansen said. “It’s a lot of youth, a lot of athletes that haven’t played varsity volleyball yet. I will guarantee you we are a different team a month from now.”

Regina (3-3) lost two tight sets to 4A No. 15 Marion and pushed 2A second-ranked Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in a three-set loss at the West Branch tournament on Saturday.

Class 2A No. 11 Regina was close in all three sets on Thursday but couldn’t get over the hump against Wilton.

Lilly Kraft had eight kills to lead five Wilton players with at least six kills as the Beavers improved to 10-0 on the season.

“We did a lot of great things tonight against a really good team,” Hansen said. “We played well at West Branch, we played Marion and EBF and we played with them the entire time, we are close and we are only going to get better.”
Junior Reese Naeve had a match-high 23 kills and Caitlin Martin added eight for Regina on Thursday.

Sophomore setter Nora Wilhem had 22 assists for Regina.

“There were so many great things but we are afraid to go for it,” Hansen said. “We have to be o.k. with taking a risk because we have all the pieces. We have to be more comfortable playing together. We just need more time.”

Regina held a 15-14 lead in the opening set and was up 21-19 in the third set but failed to put either set away.

Wilton closed the opening set on a 9-3 run to secure a 25-19 win and controlled the second set nearly from the outset on its way to a 25-17 win.

“We are rallying a lot, our rallies are pretty long we just lose on the tips, the roll shots the short court stuff,” Naeve said. “We just need to work on being on our toes on defense and watching the shots.”

Regina appeared poised to extend the match when it took a 21-19 lead in the third set on a Wilhelm kill and an Adalee Klein block.

Wilton responded with a 6-0 run to end that match that featured three kills from senior Kinsey Drake.

Regina returns to action on Saturday when it travels down the road to City High for a tournament that features three ranked 4A and 5A teams along with the Little Hawks.

“We’ve had a lot of improvement already from the beginning of the season to now,” Naeve said. “I’m excited to see where we can go.”

Regina            19  17  21

Wilton            25  25  25

Regina (Kills-aces-blocks)

Ella Keune 1-0-0, Adalee Klein 1-0-1, Reese Naeve 23-0-0, Caitlin Martin 8-0-0, Nora Wilhelm 1-0-0, Ruby Greving 2-0-0, Totals 36-0-1.

Assists – Nora Wilhelm 22

Wilton (Kills-aces-blocks)

Abren Bazal 7-1-0, Kayden Boorn 3-2-0, Kinsey Drake 6-1-0, Lilly Kraft 8-0-0, Leah Caffery 7-1-0, Ali Walker 6-0-0, Totals 37-5-0.

Assists – Leah Caffery 27

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