Tigers set for regional finals showdown with Shenandoah

 RED OAK — The only team standing in the way of another state tournament appearance for Red Oak volleyball is their rival, the Shenandoah Fillies.

Red Oak reached the regional final for a fifth consecutive time Thursday night when they cruised to a 3-0 win in their final home match versus West Central Valley.

“I thought we did what we needed to do,” Red Oak volleyball coach Angela Montgomery said. “It was a little hard to get momentum at times, but I thought we served very aggressively. That’s what we’ve been working on.”

Red Oak won their first game 25-11.

“We started off a little slow in the first set, but after that we picked it up, our passing got better, our tempo got a little better,” Red Oak volleyball player Grace Blomstedt said.

West Central Valley stayed close with Red Oak early in the second game. Despite that, the Tigers still had an 18-15 lead.

Blomstedt spiked the ball for a kill, starting a seven-point rally and culminating in a Kate Walker ace, giving  the Tigers a 25-15 game two victory.

Red Oak developed a comfortable lead in the third game. At one point, they were up 19-3 and utilizing the bench to score the final points of the match.

With their backs against the wall, West Central Valley fought back, closing the wide gap. Red Oak recovered and held on to win 25-17.

The win was notable for Blomstedt as she finished with 15 kills, giving her 1,000 for her career.

“It was great that she was able to get it at home, where we can make a bigger deal out of it than we could on the road,” Montgomery said.

Blomstedt is the second Red Oak player in recent weeks to get to 1,000 career kills. 

“This was the last time I’ll play in this gym, so that was pretty cool,” Blomstedt said about the experience.

Teammate and fellow senior Kate Walker earned her 1,000th career kill in the final regular season match versus Creston Oct. 21.

Blomstedt has served as a four-year starter for the program. The senior has 324 kills for the season, which is a career best.

Walker was the only other Red Oak player with double-digit kills as she finished with 11.

Madison Gilbert led the team in digs with eight. Dana Marsden (20) and Angela Mahoney (19) were responsible for 39 of the Tigers’ assists.

Mahoney and Sierra Athen each had four kills, while Brooke Janssen had three.

Red Oak 3, Atlantic 0

Red Oak started the regional tournament last Monday with a quick quarterfinals win against Atlantic.

The Tigers won the games 25-10, 25-4 and 25-8.

Blomstedt led with 16 kills, while Walker had six and Athen had five. Marsden had 13 assists, while Mahoney finished with 12.

Red Oak was 70-for-74 in assists with seven aces. MaKayla LeRette led the team by going 12-for-13 with two aces.

Regional Final

The Tigers now put their focus towards Shenandoah, a team they defeated 3-0 during the season. The Fillies have reached this point by scoring 3-0 wins against Clarinda and Chariton.

“We know just because we took care of them in three here at home a month ago, that’s the furthest thing from our mind,” Montgomery said.

The match will take place at Clarinda High School at 7 p.m. Tuesday