State semifinal nail-biter ends in heartbreak for Tiger VB

Semifinal
Red Oak rallied from a 0-2 set deficit to a fifth set race, falling 15-10 to Kuemper Catholic and ending the season at 34-7 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Nov. 14 in the Class 3A semifinal.
“Even though the loss in the semifinals wasn’t what they had hoped for, these seniors knew their team fought hard together,” Red Oak head coach Angie Montgomery said. “A 2019 state tournament trip and 15th green banner was the second goal this team reached. The first goal was a conference championship, which had not been done in Red Oak since 2005.”
The Tigers fell 25-19, 25-13, 23-25, 23-25, 15-10 in a late rally that fell just short.
Kuemper Catholic jumped to a 6-1 lead in the first set, only to have the Tigers knot the score at 8 and pull ahead by three. The Knights came back and regained the lead at 15 and pulled away for the win.
Set two was full of miscues for the Tigers as they never got a run put together, and the Knights put the game away quickly.
The Tigers came out early in the third set on a mission and took a 3-0 lead. Both teams put together small runs and the Tigers began to pull away midway through the set 19-15, leading to a Knight timeout. The Tigers continued to pull way and earn the win.
Red Oak carried the momentum of the third set into the fourth set, getting an early jump on the scoreboard. Both teams exchanged points, and  the momentum shifted several times, but the Tigers stayed focused and fought for the win.
Red Oak scored eight of the first 13 points before the Knights tied it up and pulled away, advancing to the final on Friday.
Sophie Walker and Chloe Johnson earned double-doubles in their final prep game, both getting 11 kills and 11 digs. Walker added one assist, one ace, three block assists, and C. Johnson chipped in one ace.
Ellie Rengstorf finished with a double-double also, getting one kill, 10 assists, one ace, and 11 digs.
Lexi Johnson finished with eight kills, two assists, one ace, 14 digs, four block assists; Allie West two kills, nine assists, two aces, nine digs, eight total blocks; Abbey Jones one kill, nine assists, five digs; Chloe DeVries four assists, one dig; Tory Carrick three kills, two assists, three digs, two block assists; and Liz Carbaugh one kill, six block assists.
Quarterfinal
After a slow and shaky start, the Red Oak Tigers swept the Nevada Cubs 3-0 in Class 3A quarterfinal action on Wednesday, Nov. 13, with scores of 26-24, 25-15, and 25-19.
In the first set, Nevada took the lead at point six and widened the gap to a 16-9 lead before the Tigers began creeping closer. The Cubs were ahead by eight, leading 20-12, then the Tigers rallied and knotted the score at 21, finally taking the lead at 25-24, and winning the next point on a Walker kill to take the first set.
“I would say our nerves got the best of us in that first set,” C. Johnson said. “Then after that, we knew our game and we knew we could beat them. We were confident.”
The second set was all Red Oak, as they went on a 9-7 run, then extended the lead to 17-7 behind the serving of L. Johnson. The Tigers continued to add multiple points to each point from the Cubs, and ended set two on a L. Johnson kill.
Red Oak held a 9-2 early lead in the third set, and extended  that to 17-9 before the Cubs began to rally, but the Tigers won the battle.
L. Johnson ended with a .474 hitting percentage on 10 kills. She had one ace, 17 digs, and three total blocks; Walker had 14 kills, 14 digs, one ace; West four kills, one ace, three digs; DeVries 10 assists, five digs; Rengstorf 12 assists, four digs; Carrick three kills, five assists, two digs, two blocks; C. Johnson nine kills, one assist, eight digs; and Jones two kills, 11 assists, one ace, seven digs.
The Tigers graduate Chloe Johnson, Ellie Rengstorf, Sophie Walker, and Allie West.
“This is a group I have been with since their fifth-grade year of AAU volleyball,” Montgomery said. “I am so thankful for the leadership I saw from all four of them this year; they have been one of the most successful senior classes that I have coached.
“We felt all season we had something extremely special in front of us, and without the complete trust and hard work we saw day in and day out, the success we enjoyed would never have happened.
“These girls will be remembered as one of the most successful senior classes in ROVB history, and I will never forget how hard they each worked to make their dreams and goals a reality.”

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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