CORALVILLE — A tough-serving Hinton team denied Grundy Center many opportunities to truly flex their muscles, brushing aside the Spartans with a 3-0 sweep in a Class 2A state volleyball semifinal at the Xtream Arena in Coralville on Wednesday.

Second-seeded Hinton won 25-16, 25-21, 25-18 and will face undefeated Dike-New Hartford at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday in the 2A championship match. Grundy Center’s season ends at 38-8.

“They put us out of system,” GC head coach Lori Willis said. “And our ball control wasn’t where we wanted it to be.”

Carlie Willis led the Spartans with 20 kills and 14 digs. Lucy Lebo added 12 digs and Ellery Luhring had 25 assists and eight digs.

The Blackhawks (32-1) landed 14 ace serves on Wednesday.

Hinton prevailed in a back-and-forth second set that featured 13 ties and five lead changes.

GC got to 20-20 with the Blackhawks on a Paige Venenga kill, but Hinton answered with five of the next six points to grab the 2-0 advantage.

“We just had a hard time getting it to Ellery,” Lori Willis said. “When we were in-system, we were tearing it up, but we just weren’t able to maintain it for long enough.”

The third set looked like it’d be more of the same see-saw action. Grundy Center led 9-8 before an 11-2 Hinton run, including three ace serves, put the Spartans on their heels.

“We didn’t have our best passing game tonight,” Carlie Willis said. “And that just motivated their hitting more and more.”

Bailey Boeve led Hinton with 13 kills, one of five Blackhawks with at least five kills on Wednesday.

Lori Willis said so many Hinton swings were hard attacks off the block Grundy was trying to put up.

“It’s hard to play defense when they’re tooling the block like that,” Lori added. “But we put up a good battle at our net with some aggressive swings. It was like block versus block at times.”

Until the final point dropped, Grundy Center continued to bring energy as they had all season to power them to their first state tournament appearance since 2019 and their first semifinal game since 2017.

“We feed off the bench, the energy in the crowd, to give us faith that we’re still in this match,” Luhring said. “That helped us continue to battle for every point.”

The history books will remember Carlie Willis and Ellery Luhring as the school’s new all-time leaders for kills (1,926) and assists (3,336), respectively.

But the positive determination from those two and their senior teammates — Lucy Lebo, Blessing Edittu, and Shirley Monaghan — provide the blueprint for any potential Spartan runs back to Coralville in the near future.

“They battled hard today, they had an extreme desire,” Lori Willis said. “They’re a very driven team, they wanted to do it for each other. At some point in time, that’s not gonna always go your way, but they weren’t going out without a fight.

“I’ve been with that group of girls since third grade, and they’re like daughters to me.”

Of course, that group of symbolic daughters contains Lori’s youngest, Carlie.

“She had such a desire to keep that ball off the ground,” Lori said, becoming racked with tears, “She was attacking for her team, and I knew she was attacking for me, too. I really wanted this for her. But it was a true blessing to be able to coach her and see her growth as a person and a player. I’m super proud of her.”

While Wednesday closes this particular chapter of Grundy Center volleyball, Lori doesn’t believe it has to be the last chance for her group of returners to see the state floor.

“We’ve got a lot of talent in that gym, and they’ve practiced against a great team all year long,” Lori said. “We’ll keep working on that ball control, we’ll learn from the seniors’ leadership and how they did it through love. I want that to carry on through all of our groups.”

Iowa Girls High School State Volleyball Tournament

At Xtream Arena, Coralville

CLASS 2A

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Oct. 31

No. 1 Dike-New Hartford def. No. 8 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, 25-23, 25-5, 25-12

No. 4 Denver def. No. 5 Sumner-Fredericksburg, 25-18, 25-16, 25-11

No. 2 Hinton def. No. 7 Aplington-Parkersburg, 25-14, 25-13, 25-16

No. 3 Grundy Center def. No. 6 Carroll Kuemper, 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 25-22

Semifinals

Wednesday, Nov. 1

No. 1 Dike-New Hartford def. No. 4 Denver, 25-9, 25-21, 25-12

No. 2 Hinton def. No. 3 Grundy Center, 25-16, 25-21, 25-18

Championship

Thursday, Nov. 2

No. 1 Dike-New Hartford (49-0) vs. No. 2 Hinton (32-1), 4:45 p.m.