I-35 falls in five to Mount Ayr

SERVE RECEIVE: Jamie Anthony receives a serve during action Monday night in Truro. (S-T photo by Matt Pfiffner)

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The quality of play may not have been the best, but it definitely was exciting.

Monday night in Truro, Interstate 35 hosted Mount Ayr in a Pride of Iowa Conference volleyball battle. The Raiders grabbed the first two sets thanks in large part to sloppy play by the Roadrunners. I-35 stormed back to take the next two sets, as Mount Ayr began to falter. It came down to a third and deciding set and the Raiders scored the final four points of the match for a thrilling 25-16, 25-22, 10-25, 20-25, 15-12 league win.

“I’m guessing we saw their best volleyball,” I-35 Coach Tim McKinney said. “We battled back from two down, something I hoped we had in us and we do.”

After dropping the first two sets, I-35 came out on fire in the third and jumped out to a 19-6 lead, thanks in large part to the serving of Bri Douglas and the hitting of Allison Seibert. Douglas had a pair of ace serves and Seibert had three kills and a block to open the set.

The Roadrunners trailed midway through the fourth set, but outscored Mount Ayr 14-8 down the stretch to knot the match at two sets apiece.

The Raiders led 4-0 early in the fifth set, but I-35 came back to take a 12-11 lead after a Seibert kill. But after a Mount Ayr timeout, the Roadrunners made a pair of errors and Raider Erica Kemery served a pair of aces to close out the match.

Seibert finished the night with 13 kills and four blocks, while Olivia Sulentic had nine kills and nine blocks. Morgan Pudans and Tyler Consoer had four blocks each. Douglas was 13-for-13 serving with three aces, Seibert went 16-for-17 with three aces and Kelsey Bregar also had three ace serves. Madeline Sulentic had a team-high seven assists, while Olivia Sulentic and Jamie Anthony each had 17 digs.

I-35 fell to 4-7 overall and 1-1 in the POI with the tough loss.

In their two matches last week, the Roadrunners split with Southeast Warren and Adel-DeSoto-Minburn.

Thursday at home, I-35 dropped a 21-25, 10-25, 17-25 decision to ADM.

Olivia Sulentic had five kills to lead I-35 at the net. Madeline Sulentic had three assists, while Seibert, Bregar and Anthony each had five digs. Madeline Sulentic was 8-for-10 serving with three aces and Seibert went 12-for-13 with an ace.

Two nights earlier at Southeast Warren, the Roadrunners won their POI opener, 25-13, 25-21, 25-7.

Olivia Sulentic and Seibert had four kills each, while Madeline Sulentic had seven assists and three digs. Douglas was a perfect 14-for-14 serving with seven aces, while Madeline Sulentic was 12-for-17 with seven aces. Seibert was a spotless 14-for-14 with five aces and Olivia Sulentic went 12-for-12 with two aces.