Home » Recent News » Volleyball team finishes with best-ever record

Volleyball team finishes with best-ever record

A win at CAM on Oct. 13 ensured the Ankeny Christian Academy volleyball team its first-ever winning season since joining the Rolling Hills Conference four years ago.

The Eagles won the close match, 26-24, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, to ensure their winning conference season. ACA and CAM both finished conference play at 5-4. The Eagles were 2-6 in 2007 and 3-5 last season before a tenth team, Glidden-Ralston, joined the conference to create a nine-game conference schedule.

"The victory over CAM was the most satisfying of the year. I told the girls before hand that a victory over CAM would give ACA volleyball, its first winning season in the Rolling Hills Conference. The girls took the challenge and played one of their best matches of the year," Coach Phil Swift said.

The Eagles lost some momentum by losing the third set, and then played much of the fourth game behind. "But when it counted, the girls showed mental toughness and came out with a win," Swift said.

Kaleigh Strong had 24 kills followed by Danae Swift with 11 and Katie Morrow with four. Setter Natalie Heggen assisted 26 times and had 14 digs. Becky Howe had 11 digs and libero Kate Kruse had 10. Swift, Howe and Morgan Phipps all completed 100 percent of their serves.

After the emotional win at CAM, the Eagles played a little flat at the Rolling Hills Conference Tournament on Oct. 15 at Elk Horn.

The Eagles, seeded fifth, opened play against third-seeded Orient-Macksburg, falling 15-21, 17-21. The Eagles then defeated Elk Horn-Kimballton in the consolation bracket, 21-14, 20-22, 51-10. They then faced second-seeded Iowa Christian Academy, which was playing without several starters due to illness. ICA defeated ACA 21-19, 21-13, to give the Eagles sixth place in the 10-team tournament.

"As sharp as we played the Tuesday before against CAM, we were flat in the tournament. We played well in spurts, but couldn't maintain a consistent level of play," Coach Swift said.

The Eagles (9-15) played Des Moines Christian (19-3) in the Regional Tournament at Des Moines Christian in Urbandale on Wednesday, October 21, at 7 p.m. and lost which ended their season. Good job, girls, on all your hard work!