As Rylee Price ’15 blocked a Southeast Polk attack for the match winning point, the City High volleyball team and crowd erupted with cheers. Players and fans shared hugs and congratulations on the court after the Regional Semi-final victory and breathed a sigh of relief after what proved to be one of the team’s closest games of the season. The Little Hawks (20-13) upset Southeast Polk (23-9) 3-2 to advance to the Regional Final where they will face Urbandale (33-5).

To start the first set the Rams went on a 6-0 run putting the Little Hawks in a hole early from which they could not recover and ultimately lost 19-25. City took an early run of their own in the second set leading them to a 25-18 win. Defensive lapses and hitting errors resulted in a 20-25 third set loss, but the team recovered and won the fourth set by a score of 25-20.

The tie breaking set to 15 points proved to be the biggest battle of all for both teams. Neither team was able to hold a serve for more than one point at a time for most of the game. The Little Hawks found themselves with a 15-14 lead and thought they won the game but their point was called back due to a net error. The battle continued for seven more points before City was able to come out on top with a 19-17 victory.

Michaela Nelson ’14 led the Little hawks with 16 kills, followed by Price with 11 and Alexa Aldrich-Ingram ’17 with 10. Ruth Grace ’14 had 45 assists and 17 digs. Sarah Plock ’15 led the team in aces with five and Nelson added three. Nelson also had 22 digs.

The Little Hawks will face Urbandale in the Regional Final on Tuesday, November 5 at Newton High School at 7 PM. The winner of that game will advance to the state tournament in its return to the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.