Central pulls off volleyball rally at Wartburg

PELLA—It took a dramatic comeback, but the Central College volleyball team picked up win No. 20 on the season in a five-set thriller over Wartburg College Friday night.

The Dutch (20-7, 3-3 American Rivers Conference) started cold, losing the first set against the Knights (9-17, 2-4 conference) 25-10, but righted the ship to win 10-25, 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 15-13

“We’ve been messaging to the team all week about finding a way to win,” coach Jeanne Czipri said. “That first set was pretty ugly, but I just reminded them that it’s one point at a time and winners find a way to regroup and reset. They stayed tough, aggressive, resilient, confident and weren’t afraid to battle.”

Central won in Waverly for the first time since 2007 and ended a nine-match losing streak to the Knights. Central has also now won 20 matches in a season for the first time since 2014.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this team tonight,” Czipri said.

Outside hitters Gracie Pierson (junior, Lake City, Minn.) and Leslie Snow (sophomore, Olivia, Minn., BOLD HS) both put exclamation points on strong performances with four kills apiece in the fifth set, including the final three points of the match from Pierson. The duo each had 13 kills on the night.

“Both of our outsides stepped up offensively,” Czipri said. “They weren’t afraid of the block or a traditionally strong defensive team.”

Avery Rexroat (sophomore, Macomb, Ill.) had 35 assists and Colleen Kenney (sophomore, Taylor Ridge, Ill., Rock Island Alleman HS) had 21 digs. Rexroat and Snow both had double-doubles by adding 17 and 19 digs, respectively.

Makayla Ribble (sophomore, Iowa City) had two of Central’s five service aces.

“What the stats don’t show is what our servers did on the balls that weren’t aces,” Czipri said. “I’m proud of them for going back there and hitting what Coach de Rosales was giving them.

Central will look to add another conference win with an 11 a.m. at Coe College Saturday.