Yatnia Hernandez

OSKALOOSA — The announcement of regional pairings has helped head coach Chris Brees give his Marshalltown volleyball team something to focus on for the final week of the regular season.

With a first-round regional match against Cedar Rapids Washington now on the schedule, the Bobcats can center their attention on how they play in preparation for the postseason. Marshalltown made a strong step in the right direction by advancing to the finals of the Oskaloosa Tournament before falling to Class 4A No. 13 Fairfield on Saturday.

The Bobcats (12-15) went 3-2 on the day while only losing to one team — Fairfield — twice. Marshalltown trounced Saydel (21-0, 21-7) and Chariton (21-7, 21-7) before bowing to Fairfield (23-21, 20-22, 15-12) to round out pool play.

In bracketed action, MHS swept aside Gilbert (25-19, 25-20) in the semifinals before getting bumped off by Fairfield again in the finals, 25-19, 13-25, 15-11.

“We did some really good things this weekend and played with more intensity than what we have seen our last week or so,” said Brees. “We lost our focus a couple times against Fairfield, which put us in a position where we were playing from behind in both matches.”

That was never a problem in the early portion of the day as the Bobcats hammered both Saydel and Chariton. Marshalltown blanked the Eagles in the opening set of the tournament, 21-0, behind the serving of junior Mayah Carson. In the sweep of Saydel, Carson served 34-for-34 with seven aces.

Against Chariton, sophomore Kyra Feldman went 22-for-22 with three aces in a pair of lopsided set victories.

“I liked our aggressiveness behind the service line, we really put the pressure on every team’s serve-receive this weekend,” said Brees. “Mayah, Marina (Rosalez) and Kyra really had some tough serves going for us.”

As a team, the Bobcats served 264-of-274 with 29 aces on the day. Carson was 67-for-71 with a whopping 10 aces, Feldman finished 69-for-70 with seven aces and Rosalez was 35-for-38 with four aces.

Junior outside hitter Erica Johnson led Marshalltown with 34 kills during the run to second place. She added 28 digs and was 25-for-25 serving with one ace.

Senior middle hitter Yatnia Hernandez posted a career-high seven kills in the finals against Fairfield and racked up a total of 21 kills for the day to go with a team-leading five blocks. Freshmen Hayden Oetker and Autumn Finch finished with 16 and 13 kills, respectively, and junior Gabby Himes added 12 kills.

MHS junior setter Madison Finch compiled 84 assists, 22 digs and four blocks while serving 35-for-37 with two aces, and senior libero Alyvia Chadderdon had a team-high 33 digs to go with 27-for-28 serving and two aces. Feldman contributed 23 digs and Carson had 21 more.

“If we continue to play with this intensity, we could really make some noise going into regionals,” said Brees. “We have a big week ahead of us with Senior Night Tuesday against Waukee and then a very strong Johnston Tournament. Our focus will continually be on how we will play Cedar Rapids Washington in our first round of regional play.”

The Bobcats host Class 5A No. 10 Waukee on Tuesday night at the Roundhouse.

BCLUW hosts Comet Invite

CONRAD — The Class 1A No. 6 North Tama volleyball team swept its way to the finals of the BCLUW Comet Invite before falling in three sets to 3A No. 9 New Hampton in the championship match here Saturday.

The Redhawks (23-6) turned away East Marshall, 1A No. 11 Gladbrook-Reinbeck and New Hampton in straight sets during pool play before sweeping West Marshall in the semifinals, 25-20, 25-17. In a pool play rematch with New Hampton, the Chickasaws emerged victorious over the Redhawks, 25-20, 20-25, 15-11.

Tournament host BCLUW won its pool ahead of West Marshall, but both squads were eliminated in the first round of bracketed play. The Comets (23-11) fell to New Hampton in three sets, 25-27, 25-17, 15-13, to close out a 3-1 day at the net.

BCLUW bested West Marshall (21-5, 19-21, 15-11), Baxter (21-11, 21-13) and Collins-Maxwell (21-13, 21-14) in pool play before their semifinal loss to the eventual champions.

The Comets were led by Easton Swanson’s 36 kills on the day. Jade Hammers had 20 kills and Madison Ubben added 18 kills, while setters Cate Nason and Lizzie Garber had 42 and 22 assists, respectively.

Nason emerged as BCLUW’s top server, going 45-for-47 with three aces, while Swanson was 32-for-36 with two aces and Garber was 26-for-26 with one ace. Ubben led the defense with nine blocks, Garber had six, and both Swanson and Kerrigan Hatch came away with five blocks. Parker Scurr served 25-for-27 and shared the team lead with three aces.

West Marshall (17-17) went 2-2 on the day, winning against Collins-Maxwell and Baxter in pool play, while Gladbrook-Reinbeck (23-8) rebounded from a 1-2 showing in pool play to win the consolation bracket with victories over Collins-Maxwell (26-24, 25-11) and East Marshall (25-20, 22-25, 15-13).

East Marshall (9-19) finished the day at 1-4, racking up its lone win against Baxter (25-19, 25-25) in the consolation semifinals. The Mustangs’ four losses all came against ranked teams.

Juliana Arifi led East Marshall with 38 kills and five blocks to go with 18 digs and two aces for the tournament, while Genesis Wanatee added 20 kills and 14 digs. Setters Karissa Young and Maria Rasmusson had 35 and 25 assists, respectively, while Zoeie Fontanini led the Mustangs with 20 digs and Quin Damman added 12 digs.

Abby Ryan led East Marshall with three service aces, while Young and Kayla Mommer had two apiece, and both Suda Leschin and Macy Frese had three blocks.