The flow of momentum that follows a fourth-set victory filled in behind Fort Dodge to start the deciding fifth set.
Down 7-1 in the winner-take-all finale, the Marshalltown volleyball team rallied together and took down the Dodgers.
The Bobcats used a 5-0 run to fight their way back into the fifth and final set and eventually overtook Fort Dodge for a 3-2 triumph in Tuesday night’s thrilling season-opener for both teams inside the Roundhouse, winning 26-28, 25-15, 28-26, 21-25, 15-12.
Marshalltown (1-0, 1-0) claimed the Iowa Alliance Conference opener behind a never-say-die attitude that wavered only slightly in the early stages of the fifth set. MHS head coach Jen O’Neal took a timeout with her team trailing 7-1 and put it plainly to her team.
“I said ‘we have a really big hole to dig out of, but you can totally do it,'” O’Neal said. “And then when we got done, ‘that was a lesson in perseverance. Way to get it done.’
“We did it together and by keeping that positive vibe on the court like we talked about. They started to hang their heads a little bit, but it was just really great to see them come together and dig out of that really big hole in that last set.”
The Bobcats fell behind 8-2 in the fifth set before making their move. Kinsley Bowie pushed an attack to the open space for a kill to start a five-point surge, served up by sophomore Claire Bonzer. Bonzer wasn’t part of the gameplan going in, O’Neal admitted, but her four service aces sure came in handy.
“Super proud of Claire, coming in last minute and being a serving specialist for us,” O’Neal said. “That was not in the gameplan to start with, so I’m really proud of what she did.”
Bonzer scored one of those four aces during the 5-0 surge, and Bella Avise added a kill as well. Fort Dodge (0-1, 0-1) made a pair of attack errors to bring the Bobcats within 8-7. The two teams jostled for position again, but back-to-back kills for Avise kickstarted another small spurt for MHS.
Kinsley Bowie had consecutive kills to make it 11-10 Marshalltown, and a late whistle ended a long scoring rally after a Fort Dodge blocker went into the net to make it 12-10.
The Dodgers countered behind senior middle hitter LJ Maehl to tie things up at 12-all, but their 15th serving error of the night handed the ball right back to the Bobcats. Gianna Baune served up the last two points, including a match-clinching ace coming out of Fort Dodge’s final timeout.
“It really means everything,” coach O’Neal said of the win. “We talked about how this just really sets the tone for us. Even though we’re young and a little bit inexperienced, don’t count us out.
“We’re going to take a lot of things into practice the rest of the week, but definitely ending on this high note is going to feel good going into tomorrow.”
Bowie led the Bobcats with 16 kills while Avise finished with 11. Brooklyn Smith, a freshman middle hitter, had seven kills and one block, while O’Neal and Harper Wilson had six kills apiece. Kendall Brummel chipped i with four kills. O’Neal finished with 40 saves.
Bonzer, Baune and Wilson had four aces each, while Avise had two more. Baune led the defense with 21 digs as well.
“Honestly, it was that one-team mentality that we have been playing together,” O’Neal said. “You can’t do this game with just one person or even two people. Everybody stepped up and contributed when one person was kind of having a hard time, somebody else would step up and pick up some slack.
“I really think it’s that staying together and never giving up on each other.”
LJ Maehl led Fort Dodge with seven kills and three blocks. Adyson Friesth added seven kills, Grace Nichols and Sydney Carver had six apiece.
Marshalltown is back in action next week with a pair of events at home, starting with Des Moines Hoover visiting the Roundhouse on Tuesday. The Apgar Tournament is next Thursday.
