WOODWARD — The two most defining statistics of Wednesday’s 3-0 sweep of visiting Madrid by Woodward-Granger leap off the sheet: service aces and kills.
W-G (12-14) finished with a 27-14 edge in successful attacks, and while Madrid (2-13) was 36-of-38 serving, those attempts included just one ace. In contrast, the Hawks had nearly double the total number of serves (72), with 24 of those aces.
Those numbers fueled a 25-10, 25-12, and 25-15 victory. The win sets up a Monday trip to Eldora to face South Hardin (19-14) in a Class 2A Region 4 Semifinal. The Tigers were 3-0 winners over South Hamilton.
The other semifinal has AC/GC (17-5) facing No. 5 East Sac County (22-0). The Raiders are, along with 1A No. 5 SE Warren (23-0), the only undefeated teams in Iowa. The Regional Final will be played Wednesday.
Natalie Weaver’s jump serve brutalized the Tigers, with the senior finishing 18-of-21 with 10 aces. Audrey Simmons was 18-of-19 with six aces, with Brayten Ashman 10-10-4 and Elly Polich 8-9-2. Darby Nixon was 8-10-2 and Faith Keuhl 3-of-3.
Polich had 11 kills and Weaver nine, with Grace Deputy adding four kills, Ashman two and Gena Tague 1. Simmons passed out 17 assists and Polich five, with Nixon having two assists and Keuhl and Weaver one each.
Weaver had 10 digs, Nixon eight and Polich seven, with Keuhl making four digs, Simmons two and Tague one. Deputy and Tague each had an assisted block.
Monday’s match will begin at 7 p.m., was will Wednesday’s Regional Final.
