C-M volleyball falls to Iowa Valley, drops to SICL Bronze Quad

Oct. 13—NEW SHARON — Colfax-Mingo volleyball coach Michelle Grant didn't mince words. The Tigerhawks playing in the Bronze Quad at the South Iowa Cedar League tournament is a disappointment.

But Colfax-Mingo will have to find a way to get to the "next play" on Thursday.

"We struggle with next play. The errors compound us too much because when we make a mistake we start thinking we are terrible or something negative," Grant said. "Playing in the Bronze Quad is the ultimate next play for us. We don't want to be there. But we're going to go.

"We have to go play the game so let's go win the Bronze Quad. Do we deserve to be there after that match? Yes. So that's where we're going. But we have to go and compete."

The Tigerhawks are headed to English Valleys for the Bronze Quad after Iowa Valley defeated C-M 25-21, 25-16, 24-26, 25-13 in SICL pool-play action on Monday at North Mahaska High School.

The first match at the Bronze Quad will be English Valleys and Keota at 5 p.m. Colfax-Mingo and Tri-County also will play and the two winners face off in the quad championship match.

The SICL East hosts the quad sites this fall. The Gold Quad will be at Belle Plaine and the Silver Quad is at Iowa Valley.

"It's terribly disappointing, but we didn't have the growth I thought we should have had," Grant said about playing in the Bronze Quad. "The growth comes from the errors we make that we are still dwelling on. Once we get to the next play, I think there will be growth."

One of the main reasons C-M lost to Iowa Valley (10-24) was that the Tigers simply denied the Tigerhawks long service runs.

In the opening set, the biggest lead for either team was a five-point advantage for Iowa Valley. C-M's largest surplus was when it led 3-1.

The two teams mostly played even throughout the set. The Tigers led 12-9 and 15-10 before C-M rallied to tie the score at 17-all.

Caylee Cunningham had a kill and a block that turned a 16-14 deficit into the 17-all tie. It stayed close at 21-20 after a Cunningham ace, but Iowa Valley scored four of the next five points to grab an early advantage in the match.

"The problem in the first set when it was close was they just wouldn't allow us to go on runs," Grant said. "They got a run late in the set and it won them the set.

"We just couldn't go on a serving run. We missed too many serves and they terminated balls to limit our momentum."

The Tigers controlled the second set. There were three ties early, but Iowa Valley eventually led 16-11 after an ace. C-M called a timeout when the margin got to 18-12, but the Tigerhawks (10-14) never got closer than seven after that.

Colfax-Mingo stayed alive with a win in the third set. And Felicity Woods was the catalyst with her serve.

C-M led 4-1 and 6-3 before Iowa Valley got it back to 6-all. At 7-all, Woods put the Tigerhawks in front with a block and then served up an ace.

Woods' long service run that included another ace pushed the lead to 14-8. But Iowa Valley rallied with a 9-0 run to go up 17-14.

"She wasn't serving for an ace every time, and I think that helped her," Grant said about Woods. "She serves it so hard a lot of the time but taking something off it tonight was effective."

Colfax-Mingo continued to trail until late in the set. Iowa Valley led by as many as four and got to match point at 24-21 before a service error inched the Tigerhawks closer.

That brought Woods back to the service line and she once again came through. An ace made it 24-23 and then Cunningham found a hole in the left corner to tie it. The Tigerhawks won the set two points later.

Grant had a simple message to Woods during a timeout late in the set with the Tigerhawks on the brink of another loss.

"We needed her to just get the serves in at that point," Grant said. "Because a serve error means we lose and the match is over."

The fourth set was a carbon copy of set two. Iowa Valley got ahead for good early and extended the advantage throughout the game.

The Tigers led 16-7 before claiming their largest margin of the night with a strong finish. They scored the set's final five points and won by 12.

"We have never been in the Bronze Quad since I have been coach," Grant said. "We just aren't scoring enough in situations that favor us. We are still learning in a lot of ways. The team is really young despite the four seniors on the floor."

Cunningham led the Tigerhawks with 11 kills, nine digs and five aces. Her kill efficiency was .233.

Trinity Smith tallied six kills and seven digs, Woods finished with seven digs and five aces and Madison Stackhouse registered 16 assists and five digs.

Joslyn Chadwick finished with 10 digs, Abi Rawlins added five digs and two aces and Charlotte Donahue put down two kills.

The Tigerhawks were 63-of-77 in serves with 13 aces.

Notes: North Mahaska defeated Iowa Valley in three sets in the next match to advance to the Gold Quad. The Warhawks will be joined by Belle Plaine, Sigourney and HLV. The Silver Quad features Lynnville-Sully, Iowa Valley, BGM and Montezuma.