West Burlington finally knocks out New London in heavyweight volleyball tilt
It was a heavyweight battle of epic proportions.
Class 2A's 11th-ranked West Burlington High school volleyball team, the power puncher featuring one of the state's premier strikers in senior Sophia Armstrong, versus Class 1A's 15th-ranked New London, the proverbial finesse team which, like Rocky Balboa, never seems to stay on the canvas.
After a nearly 2 1/2-hour, five-hour, back-and-forth battle, it was Isabelle Ritter who landed the final blow, a kill off a block to give the Falcons a 20-25, 25-16, 27-25, 19-25, 17-15 victory over the Tigers in an SEI Superconference South Division match Thursday at West Burlington High School.
In the end, both teams knew they were in a battle which just as easily could have gone the other way.
That's a huge conference win for us as we go into our last three conference games. I am extremely proud of them," West Burlington coach Maureen Heath said. "We need to play these kinds of matches even though it is stressful. Kids learn how to handle things and stay tough."
"They're playing their hearts out and honestly that game could have gone either direction at the end there. We just need to push execution and get that offense going. They just had it and the end and we didn't those last few points," first-year New London coach Jackie Housman said. "This could have gone either way tonight. It was a super, super impressive match. I can't be disappointed because they played their hearts out. They really did."
Armstrong, Burden put on a show
Armstrong had herself a monster night for the Falcons. She put down a school single-match record 33 kills to go along with 12 digs.
New London senior Natalie Burden matched her shot for shot. In a stunning performance of hitting excellence, Burden put down a whopping 38 kills to go along with 29 kills.
That alone was worth the five dollar price of admission.
"Natalie was on fire tonight. Sofphie (Malott) was on fire. Camryn (Lair) was picking her places. We were running really good offense everywhere we needed to go, but Natalie was finding the floor no matter what," Housman said. "We have been working really hard in practice against a big block. We knew a big block was coming tonight, so we have been trying to work around that, trying to find a way to find the floor against a big block."
"We had trouble with Natalie Burden all night. She hits all over the floor. Kudos to them," Heath said. "The kids played as hard as they could when Sophia wasn't in the game. That's what we have to do."
Burden and Malott, who put down 19 kills of her own, kept hitting lines all night until the Falcons finally shifted their defense late in the match.
"We do a really, really good job of finding the court. We find the court no matter what. Sometimes it's not pounding down. Sometimes it's just the middle there, sometimes we're cutting it across. We're trying to switch up our offense at all times," Housman said. "We were just going to keep going line until they switched their defense over. They finally did switch their defense over in the end. Absolute kudos to them."
Falcons find a way without Armstrong
West Burlington often got caught with Armstrong on the bench, putting the pressure on Brenna Beggs, Kenna Marlow, Ritter and Lauren Glasgow to fill the void during that rotation.
Trailing 9-6 in the decisive fifth set, Abbey Bence and Beggs came up with back-to-back blocks to pull the Falcons within 9-8.
Beggs would later have another block which gave the Falcons a match point at 16-15.
"I was really nervous and I was thinking I can't let my team down. I just had to make it perfect timing. I did it for my team," Beggs said.
"I've really been focusing on my blocking footwork this week. That's been my goal. I thought I got a lot of touches tonight. I did a better job of closing out the block. I'm glad I could help out the team in a big moment," Bence said.
"Being able to pull that out and the end … I think we were down 8-4. To come from behind like that and win 17-15, I am just super proud of them. They are finding their inner desire at times," Heath said.
On the horizon
New London (14-8 overall, 5-2 South Division) hosts its own tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday at Charles Lorber Gymnasium.
West Burlington (27-5, 4-0) plays in the New London Tournament, where they are set to tangle with the Tigers again. West Burlington travels across town to play Class 1A's third-ranked Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
By the numbers
WEST BURLINGTON
Kills — Sophia Armstrong 33, Brenna Beggs 17, Isabelle Ritter 8, Kenna Marlow 8, Lauren Glasgow 5
Assists — Abbey Bence 67
Serving aces — Armstrong 1
Blocks — Beggs 2, Marlow 2
Digs — Marlow 41, Lauren Summers 27, Carli Cline 26, Ale Kellen 22, Bence 15, Ritter 13, Armstrong 12
NEW LONDON
Kills — Natalie Burden 38, Sophie Malott 19, Camryn Lair 10, Tysann Gipple 8, Morgan Jones 4
Assists — Elly Manning 76
Serving aces — Malott 5, Emma Nye 1, Burden 1
Blocks — Gipple 1, Lair 1
Digs — Nye 58, Manning 30, Burden 29, Jones 20, Malott 17, Gipple 8, Lair 6
Records — New London 14-8 overall (5-2 SEI Superconference South Division), West Burlington (27-5 (4-0)
Matt Levins is a sports reporter for the USA Today Network in Burlington, Iowa, who has covered local sports for 32 years at The Hawk Eye. Reach him at mlevins@thehawkeye.com.
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: West Burlington outlasts New London in volleyball thriller
