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Wolves' senior Becky Halbur (left) blocks the attack of Guthrie Center's Breanna Meier.
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The ninth-ranked (Class 2-A) Wolves recorded their second straight postseason volleyball sweep here Tuesday night with a commanding 25-12, 25-16, 25-14 win over Guthrie Center in a 2-A, Region 2 quarterfinal.
IKM-Manning dominated each set from the start, bolting out to a 12-3 lead in game one, scoring the first seven points of game two and taking a 13-3 advantage in game three. Guthrie Center showed a spark in the middle of all three games but never seriously threatened to pull off a rally.
The Wolves, now 31-5 overall, moved within two wins of returning to the State Volleyball Tournament in Cedar Rapids (Nov. 11-14). They will host Nodaway Valley in a regional semifinal on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
IKM-M head coach Kathy Lage was pleased with her team's killer instinct Tuesday night after they struggled to close out a couple games in last week's regional opener versus Audubon.
"We've been focusing all week (on) staying intense and staying focused," she said. "The last few matches we've kind of gotten leads and then we let it slip away, so that was really the focus. I felt we did really well with that tonight and I think if we continue to keep that mentality, hopefully the next few games will (finish) the same way it did tonight."
The Tigers, who finished 17-7, had won 11 straight matches but didn't have an answer for the Wolves' potent attack and blocking prowess at the net. IKM-Manning averaged 14.3 kills per game and scored nine points directly off blocks.
Five Wolves' players finished with a kill efficiency between .571 (Liz Halbur) and .333, and the team efficiency was an outstanding .417. Senior Ashley Hagedorn went 23-of-24 on attacks for 13 kills, sophomore Liz Halbur had 10 kills and seven block assists and junior Alex Halbur added eight kills.
Liz Halbur, a middle blocker, was particularly impressive at the net with several vicious spikes.
"That worked well for us tonight because they only did a single block," Coach Lage noted. "(Liz) does a nice job of cutting the ball and not always hitting straight through, and she can go to both sides. It's hard to defend. She gets up. You don't really expect that when you just see her playing, but she does, and she was on. Her timing was great tonight."
Lage was also pleased with the back row play of Becky Halbur, who led the team with 12 digs in addition to her six kills and four blocks. This is Halbur's first year playing in the back row.
"She played a strong back row for us and was always ready to hit," Lage said. "We told our setters they had to move the ball around and that's exactly what they did."
Lage graded the team's overall performance in the B to B+ range, leaving room for improvement going into the final two rounds of regional play.
"Most of the girls were on tonight," she said. "There were certainly some things that we need to work on, some bad decisions that we made, but they weren't enough to overcome us and we kept the momentum.
"I thought tonight was going to be a really tough match. Guthrie Center had a lot of seniors."
The Wolves posted only two aces in 65 serves Tuesday, but still kept the Tigers out of system on a regular basis. Shelby Hansen and Courtney Eischeid combined to serve 29-for-31, both recording one ace.
Ashley Lage led the team with 21 of its 40 set assists.
The winner of Friday's IKM-M versus Nodaway Valley match will face either Red Oak or Underwood in the Region 2 final on Tuesday night (7:00) at Harlan.
IKM-Manning 3, Guthrie Center 0
(25-12, 25-16, 25-14)
IKM-MANNING STATISTICS
Attacks: 76/84, 43 kills (14.3 per game), .417 kill efficiency
Ashley Hagedorn 23/24, 13 kills (.500 eff.); Liz Halbur 12/14, 10 kills (.571 eff.); Alex Halbur 10/12, 8 kills (.500 eff.); Becky Halbur 12/13, 6 kills (.385 eff.); Shelby Hansen 11/12, 5 kills (.333 eff.); Kaylee Blake 7/8, 1 kill; Courtney Eischeid 1/1.
Assists: 40 total (13.3 per game)
Ashley Lage 21, Eischeid 9, Hansen 4, B. Halbur 2.
Serving: 58/65 (89.2%), 2 aces
Hansen 15/16, 1 ace; Eischeid 14/15, 1 ace; A. Halbur 14/18; Lage 6/7; B. Halbur 5/5; Hagedorn 4/4.
Digs: 45 total (15.0 per game)
B. Halbur 12, Lage 8, Hagedorn 7, Eischeid 6, A. Halbur 6, Hansen 6.
Blocks: 17 total (5.7 per game)
L. Halbur 7 assists, B. Halbur 4 assists, Hansen 3 assists, Hagedorn 2 assists, Blake 1 solo.
Class 2-A, Region 2 Volleyball
Regional Quarterfinals: Tuesday, October 27
Nodaway Valley def. Griswold: 25-15, 25-20, 25-19.
IKM-Manning def. Guthrie Center: 25-12, 25-16, 25-14.
Red Oak def. Shenandoah: 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 15-7.
Underwood def. Logan-Magnolia: 25-23, 25-27, 19-25, 25-22, 15-11.
Regional Semifinals: Friday, October 30
Nodaway Valley vs. IKM-Manning (at Manning), 7:00 p.m.
Red Oak vs. Underwood (at Underwood), 7:00 p.m.
Regional Final: Tuesday, November 3
at Harlan, 7:00 p.m. (Winner advances to State Tournament - Nov. 11-14)
Class 2-A, Region 1 Volleyball
Regional Quarterfinals: Tuesday, October 27
Kuemper Catholic def. Odebolt-Arthur/BC-IG: 25-17, 25-23, 25-21.
Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto def. Missouri Valley: 25-19, 25-21, 25-21.
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