CEDAR RAPIDS — Schaller-Crestland reached unchartered territory for its volleyball program.
The Wildcats, and Coach Marilyn Murra, have reached the state finals for the first time, thanks to thrilling five-set victory over Treynor.
Schaller-Crestland outlasted the Cardinals, 16-25, 27-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-5, in a Class 1A semifinal of the IGHSAU state volleyball tournament last night at the U.S. Cellular Center.
“It is awesome,” Wildcats senior Chelsea Clayton said. “It’s just unbelievable. After that first game it was kind of doubtful, because we didn’t play our best. We came back it was amazing.”
The entire …

CEDAR RAPIDS — Taylor Dicus moved.
From Florida to Iowa. From middle to outside.
And last night, Taylor Dicus contributed. In a big way.
The newest member to Mount Vernon’s 6-foot sorority, Dicus collected 11 kills without a miss as the Mustangs marched to the Class 2A state volleyball final.
Top-rated Mount Vernon defeated No. 4 Wapsie Valley, 25-16, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18, in a semifinal at the U.S. Cellular Center.
“I love it here,” said Dicus, a junior who moved to Mount Vernon from West Palm, Fla., over the summer, after her father Don was …

Emily Ryan talks to Rachel and Elizabeth Ihnen, twins who helped take the Sheldon Orabs to the state championship game. And we preview tomorrow’s championship matches.

CEDAR FALLS — It’s the championship matchup everyone wanted. Well, sort of.
The bottom line is you’ll have two unbeaten teams in next week’s Class 4A title game. Iowa City High held up its end of the bargain in the eastern part of the state, scoring a touchdown in each of the first three quarters to beat Cedar Rapids Xavier, 21-3, in Friday’s second playoff semifinal at the UNI-Dome.
The Little Hawks (13-0) are in the finals for the sixth time, drawing championship game rookie Marshalltown (13-0) next weekend here. The Bobcats …

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s been six years since Tom Keating coached his last volleyball match at Dubuque Wahlert.
He’s still in the game, though.
Keating will serve as color commentator for Mediacom Communications’ telecasts of the championship matches at the state tournament today.
“It’s another way for me to stay involved,” said Keating, who left Wahlert in the summer of 2004 to become the principal at Cedar Rapids Xavier. “It wasn’t a hard decision for me to say yes.”
Keating won 11 state titles at Wahlert. He continues to work a number of coaches’ …

CEDAR RAPIDS — If this was baseball, Jessica Gehrke’s final swing would have drawn chalk.
Gehrke hit the sideline for her 33rd kill, clinching second-ranked Iowa City West’s dramatic five-set victory over No. 3 Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a Class 4A semifinal at the state volleyball tournament Friday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center.
Scores were 25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 24-26 and 15-13.
“Jess wasn’t going to be denied,” said West Coach Kathy Bresnahan. “She got to the front court with the match on the line, and I knew it was over.”
The Women of …

CEDAR RAPIDS — Sioux City Heelan is “going to the ’ship.”
The Crusaders chanted that moments after downing the only team to hand their senior class a state tournament loss.
Top-ranked Heelan avenged last year’s state semifinal loss Marion, sweeping the Indians, 25-21, 25-19, 25-19, in a Class 3A semifinal of the IGHSAU state volleyball tournament at the U.S. Cellular Center.
“These kids had a fire in their belly,” Heelan Coach Lori Slight said. “They wanted to show people that ‘Hey, we’ve been No. 1 all season, we want to stay No. 1.”
The …

There’s joy and pain in equal measure at the tournament; for every winner, another team falls short. Emily Ryan talks about what it’s like to lose at the tournament, and the 5-game thriller between CR Kennedy and I.C. West.

CEDAR FALLS — Mason City Newman did something uncharacteristic Friday morning that made North Tama do something even more uncharacteristic.
A football team that ordinarily does nothing but run, Newman got 190 yards passing and three touchdowns from quarterback Josh Luecht and upset the top-ranked Redhawks, 28-26, in a fine Class A playoff semifinal at the UNI-Dome.
The 28 points were 10 more than North Tama (12-1) allowed in its previous 12 games combined. It was hard to determine if that was more surprising or the way Newman (12-1) got those points …

Emily Ryan brings us up to date on this afternoon’s matchups, and Liz Martin explains how photographers get great photos from the tournament.