Regional Final Volleyball Results Tuesday, October 28th
Unity Christian At Kuemper- Class 3A Region 6
Kuemper 3
Unity Christian 2
25-14, 23-25, 14-25, 25-12, 15-11
Elsa Tiefenthaler had back-to-back aces serves as Kuemper clinched their fourth straight trip to the State Tournament on Tuesday, holding off Unity Christian in five sets. The match was uneven as both teams earned dominant set wins and both teams had to rally big deficits to win a set. Kuemper looked like they would cruise after dominating set one and leading 14-6 in set two but Unity Christian answered the bell and rallied to win set two and cruised to a dominant set three win in which they built a 9-0 lead. Kuemper took an early lead in set four, grabbing the momentum and rolling to a big win. Both teams played out of system a ton in the first-four sets as both teams struggled in serve receive and ended up tipping a lot of out-of-system balls. That changed in set five as both teams played at a high level with Kuemper starting quick and appeared in control but Unity Christian battled back and took a 11-10 lead on back-to-back aces. Kuemper closed out the match with a 5-0 run with Elsa Tiefenthaler ending it with back-to-back aces.
Neither team were in system much early in set one as the score was tight with Unity Christian leading 3-1 and Kuemper going on a 9-0 run to build a 10-3 lead. Mariah Heuton had a pair of kills during the run but Unity Christian made a lot of errors, hitting the ball deep or into the net. Kuemper didn’t allow Unity Christian back into the set, maintaining the lead around 7-9 points until Addy Anthofer pushed the lead to 18-8 with a kill. Anthofer added another kill later, making it 23-14. Zoe Brunning had a kill and Elsa Tiefenthaler ended the set with a push kill to the corner.
Kolbi Peter had two early kills in set two and Kuemper led 3-0. Unity Christian answered with a 3-0 run but Kuemper opened things up again with Addy Anthofer put them up 4-3 and Kolbi Peter made it 6-3. Kuemper extended the team to 10-5 on a kill from Elsa Tiefenthaler and Mariah Heuton extended it to 14-6. The match changed at this point as Unity Christian became the aggressive team and Kuemper struggled in serve receive. The Kuemper led kept getting smaller but they almost held off Unity Christian until they went on a 6-1 run to take their first led at 18-17. Kuemper rallied and Mariah Heuton gave them a 20-19 lead with a kill. The Kuemper led grew to 22-20 but Unity Christian closing the set on a 5-1 run to win 25-23.
Unity Christian started set three with a 9-0 run and never looked back, winning 25-14. Kuemper tried to fight back with Addy Anthofer and Zoe Brunning both having a pair of kills, pulling Kuemper within 10-4. A Mia Milligan ace cut it to 14-8 but a 5-0 run but Unity Christian in command.
Kuemper needed a good start in set four and got it. Kolbi Peter had a pair of early kills, Brianna Wittrock had an ace and Addy Anthofer made it 4-2 with a kill. Unity Christian struggled and played most of set four out-of-system and Kuemper never trailed and the set was only tied once at 1-1. Unity Christian did cut the Kuemper led to 11-10 but Kuemper answered with a 5-0 run and ended the set with kills from Brianna Wittrock and Mariah Heuton.
Kolbi Peter put Kuemper up 2-0 in set five and Kuemper extended it to 4-0. The Kuemper led stayed around three to four points until late when Unity Christian went on a 6-2 run, using back-to-back aces to lead 11-10. After a Kuemper timeout, Addy Anthofer had a kill to tie it and Kolbi Peter put Kuemper up 12-11 with a kill. Brianna Wittrock had a kill, making it 13-11. Elsa Tiefenthaler ended the match with two straight kills, advancing Kuemper to State.
Elsa Tiefenthaler had a strong game for Kuemper with 7 kills, 44 assists, 19 digs and 3 aces. Kaylie Simons was terrific in the back row with 41 digs and 7 assists. Kolbi Peter led them with 14 kills to go with 14 digs. Addy Anthofer had 12 kills and 11 digs, Mariah Heuton added 9 kills and Zoe Brunning was tough in the middle with 10 kills. Brianna Wittrock added 12 digs and Mia Milligan had 9 digs.
Kuemper heads to the 3A State Tournament at 31-2 and will rematch with Hawkeye 10 Conference mate Red Oak on Tuesday, November 4th at 12:25 on KIKD 106.7. Red Oak will enter the match 38-2.
Kuemper Stats
Kolbi Peter 14 Kills, 14 Digs, Ace
Mariah Heuton 9 Kills, 2 Digs, Block
Brianna Wittrock 4 Kills, 12 Digs, Block, Ace
Addy Anthofer 12 Kills, 4 Assists, 11 Digs
Zoe Brunning 10 Kills, 3 Digs, Block
Elsa Tiefenthaler 7 Kills, 44 Assists, 19 Digs, Block, 3 Aces
Kaylie Simons 7 Assists, 41 Digs,
Mia Milligan 1 Assist, 9 Digs, Ace
Below is a link with photos that are free to download, thanks to the sponsorship of Jeanne Kerkhoff. The photos are taken by Jeff Storjohann.
https://viewfinder22.smugmug.com/FREE-DOWNLOADS/25-10-28-vb-khs-uc-kerkhoff
