Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The state volleyball tournament in right around the corner.

Before the serves start flying at Xtream Arena in Coralville next week teams must secure spots at the state tournament scheduled for November 4-7.

There will be 24 teams that earn spots at state on Tuesday with Classes 5A, 4A and 3A hosting regional finals.

We take a quick look at the Class 4A regional finals featuring teams from the Your Prep Sports area.

Class 4A, Region 4

Dallas Center-Grimes (22-18) at No. 4 Clear Creek Amana (36-7)

Where: Clear Creek Amana High School

When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Player to watch: Dallas Center-Grimes sophomore setter Gwen Farley leads Class 4A and ranks fifth in the state with 1,015 assists to go with 73 kills, 319 digs and 33 ace serves.

About the Clippers: A 4A semifinalist each of the past two seasons Clear Creek Amana is chasing a third consecutive trip to the state tournament.

The Clippers lost plenty of production from last year’s team that won 46 consecutive matches before a semifinal loss to North Scott but has reloaded for another run at a 4A crown.

All seven losses for the Clippers this season have come to ranked opponents with four of those losses coming to top-10 ranked 5A squads.

Clear Creek Amana is led by junior standout Averie Lower who has a team-high 376 kills on .258 hitting.

Sophomore Bailey Simpson has 204 kills and 67 blocks and junior Sariah Sherman has 155 kills and a team-high 71 blocks.

Junior Elizabeth Timmerman has 151 kills, 28 blocks and 112 digs.

Junior setter Emily Henderson leads the Clipper attack and has 853 assists to go with 91 kills, a team-high 42 ace serves, 280 digs and 44 blocks.

About the Mustangs: Dallas Center-Grimes is seeking its fifth ever trip to the state tournament and first since 200.

The Mustangs have won four straight since a loss to No. 11 Norwalk on October 8, a stretch that includes a five-set win over No. 15 Ballard in the regional semifinals.

Of the 18 losses for Dallas Center-Grimes 11 have come to ranked opponents.

The Mustangs featured three players with more than 230 kills led by sophomore Maggie Leifker who leads the team with 268 kills and 45 blocks.

Senior Maliya Carlson has 265 kills and senior Landry Glasgow has 238 kills.

What to watch: These two teams met earlier this season with Clear Creek Amana picking up a 21-16, 21-14 win all the way back on August 31 at the Grinnell Tournament.

Both teams are much different at this point in the season however one note from that match is the nine kills for Averie Lower.

Lower has been a handful for all teams this season averaging 3.8 kills per set which ranks seventh in Class 4A.

The 6-foot, Lower averaged 4.5 kills per set in the sweep of DCG earlier this season and if Lower gets going early on Tuesday it opens everything else up for a balanced Clear Creek Amana attack.

Lower is going to get kills on Tuesday but if the Mustangs are forced to put extra attention onto Lower it could lead to an efficient match for the likes of Sherman, Simpson and Timmerman.

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