How the Ames volleyball team continued moving in the right direction in 2022

The Ames volleyball team showed progress for the third year in a row during the 2022 season.

Despite losing talented leaders Alexa Kopaska, Lola Campbell, Ling Bai and Olivia Smalley off the 2021 team the Little Cyclones managed to increase their win total in 2022. They finished 13-20 overall and 3-3 in the newly-formed Iowa Alliance Conference after going 11-24 a year ago.

"We graduated six seniors last year and three of them played six rotations," Ames head coach Meg Williams said. "There were big shoes to fill and I felt we had players that really stepped up to the plate. I am very lucky to be able to coach a talented group of girls who want to win and have that drive to compete. I am very pleased with their progress. We were young and the majority of the starters did not see varsity play till this year. I felt that they all grew and they have big goals for next year."

Ames won the very first varsity event in the new Harrison Barnes Court and Gymnasium Aug. 23 with a sweep of Marshalltown in its very first Iowa Alliance Conference event. The Little Cyclones followed with a 3-3 showing at the Skip Anderson Tournament in Bondurant, defeating Gilbert, Pella and Boone and losing to Waverly-Shell Rock, Carroll and North Polk.

The Little Cyclones lost to Ottumwa and Waterloo East and defeated Fort Dodge in conference play and earned a non-conference win over Woodward-Granger before closing out September with a rough stretch that saw them go 0-4 at the Boone Invitational and fall at Des Moines Roosevelt in four sets.

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Ames opened October by going 1-3 at the Urbandale Invitational. The Little Cyclones defeated Des Moines East and lost to Urbandale, Des Moines Christian and Dallas Center-Grimes.

On Oct. 4 the Little Cyclones swept Mason City in IAC play. Four days later they went 1-3 at the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Invitational with a win over Fort Dodge St. Edmond and losses to Charles City, South Hardin and Kuemper Catholic.

Ames rebounded to sweep Des Moines Lincoln Oct. 11 on senior night in Ames. Four days later the Little Cyclones closed out the regular season by going 2-3 at the IAC tournament with victories over Lincoln and Fort Dodge and losses to Roosevelt, Ottumwa and Waterloo East.

The Little Cyclones won their Class 5A regional opener over Marshalltown in a five-set battle Oct. 18 at Ames. They pulled off a 25-10 win in the first set, lost the next two by 25-21 and 25-22 scores then came back to win the fourth, 25-23, and the rally game, 15-13.

Ames saw its season come to a close at Waukee Northwest in the 5A regional semifinals. The Little Cyclones fell by scores of 25-16, 25-13 and 25-13.

"The biggest highlights for me were when we played Waterloo East towards the beginning of the season and first round of regionals against Marshalltown," Williams said. "We may have lost (to Waterloo East) but the girls laid it all out on the court and fought hard. I love those games when they really show people what they are made of. They never gave up and worked hard. Our first round of regionals against Marshalltown was also my favorite. We won the first set pretty easily and then Marshalltown came back and won the second and third. We could have given up, but the girls really dug deep and came out winning. Coaches and officials commented on how our team were such fighters. I was so proud of them for never giving up and fighting till the very end."

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Ames totaled 737 kills on 15.2% efficiency as a team on offense.

"We were really aggressive at the net," Williams said. "I felt that we were really smart at placing the ball and feeding off of each other when players would make big plays."

The Little Cyclones averaged 37.8 digs and 6.1 blocks per set on defense and they served at an 87.4% clip with 183 aces.

Junior setter/right-side hitter Sophia Timmermans, senior outside hitters Ireland Buss and Malina Kamau, junior middle hitter D'Niaya Settles and junior middle/right-side hitter Nadia Tulp were Ames' top weapons on offense.

Timmermans was Ames' most complete player. She dished out 279 assists and came up with 134 digs, 115 kills, 59 blocks and 37 aces. Buss tallied a team-high 140 kills and added 171 digs, 26 aces and 14 blocks and Kamau came over from Colorado and provided a strong all-around addition to the team with 293 digs, 108 kills and 31 aces.

Settles was a force in the middle, compiling 130 kills, 61 digs and 53 blocks. Tulp finished with 138 kills and 46 blocks.

Senior Eliana Deardorff teamed with Timmermans to run the Little Cyclone attack. Deardorff handed out 253 assists and she also finished with 112 digs and had 37 kills on 60.7% efficiency.

Jude Spillers joined Kamau in anchoring the back row for Ames. Spillers recorded 284 digs from the libero spot and she also was accurate on 90.9% of her serves with 36 aces.

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Junior Paulina Kamau chipped in 74 digs, sophomore Olivia Timmermans added 27 and seniors Kristin Eggert, Jessica Matulac and Haley Stupp totaled 31, 19 and 11 respectively.

Freshman Lizzie Greenfield tacked on 16 digs.

Ames is going to miss Buss, Deardorff, Malina Kamau and the overall leadership of the seniors next season. But after the way the Little Cyclones overcame last year's losses there is no reason to think they can't continue to improve and even challenge for a winning season in 2023.

"I think our season is going to be even better next year," Williams said. "Our record keeps getting better every year and we have more and more talent that keeps coming up. Most of the girls are playing club and already have plans on getting better in the off-season. The girls really want to be successful and they are already hungry for next season."

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames volleyball team showed more progress in 2022