Red Oak back at state for first time since 2010
Blomstedt remembers traveling to Cedar Rapids in 8th grade to watch the Red Oak volleyball team in the state tournament.
Blomstedt, along with friend and current teammate Kate Walker babysat during one of the practices at the U.S. Cellular Center.
“I was like, this could be us next year,” Blomstedt recalled saying.
Red Oak was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Mount Vernon. A year later, in Blomstedt’s freshman season, the Tigers lost to Harlan in the regional finals to just miss a state bid.
“That one, we let slip away from us,” Red Oak’s Josie Snyder said. “We had to make this game ours.”
This year’s chance didn’t slip through Blomstedt’s or the Tigers’ fingers.
The Red Oak volleyball team booked a trip to Cedar Rapids this week for the state tournament with a decisive 3-0 victory against Adel-DeSoto-Minburn (ADM) in the 3A regional final at Atlantic High School last Tuesday.
“It wasn’t us last year,” Blomstedt continued, “but it was this year.”
The Tigers will play MOC-Floyd Valley in the quarterfinals of the state tournament, which takes place Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.
For Maddie Holmgren, one of the seniors on the team, this will be her first and last opportunity at state.
Holmgren didn’t play for varsity until last year when she rose through the ranks to be one of the top players on the team.
“It’s awesome, it’s everything you would ever want in any high school sport,” Holmgren said. “To have it with all these amazing girls is awesome.”
It’s a vastly different group of players since the 2010 team advanced to state. There have even been changes from last year.
“Knowing what we rebuilt from, what we reloaded from, from last year when we lost, these kids were able to believe that they could get it done and we basically put a new group out there,” Montgomery said. “They wanted it bad.”
Only Makelti White, who was a freshman at the time, was on the varsity team when Red Oak went to the state tournament in 2010.
Snyder, another senior on the team, who wasn’t on the 2010 team, said she was glad to get the job done.
“I just knew I had to stay positive, stay focused, get everything over the net, try my hardest and not let anything drop,” Snyder said
Snyder played out of her mind in the back row as she recorded a season-high 23 digs against a tough-hitting ADM squad. Montgomery thought Snyder had a big match.
“Their hitters were not shying away from anything and she was an integral part in it for us tonight in that win,” Montgomery said.
For Angela Mahoney, she remembers when older sister Adrienne went to state in 2010. Mahoney remembers how her older sister was excited and happy and how everyone was happy to send the team to Cedar Rapids.
“Now it’s my turn,” the freshman said.
MOC-Floyd Valley reached the state tournament by defeating Algona in the regional final last Tuesday in Spencer.
The Lady Dutch also defeated Unity Christian and Spirit Lake in the regional tournament.
This will be MOC-Floyd Valley’s first appearance at the state tournament.
The Lady Dutch have played state caliber teams like Bishop Heelan, and Western Christian.
They’ve won once against Bishop Heelan this season and that was during a tournament in Hull Oct. 6.
MOC-Floyd Valley has wins this season against George-Little Rock, Hinton, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, Sioux Center, West Lyon and Sioux City North and Sioux City East.
The player to watch for MOC-Floyd Valley will be Alexis Conaway. The junior hitter leads Class 3A in kills with 412.
Red Oak edged out ADM 3-0 in a tight match with all four games decided by less than four points.
The Tigers led the first half of the third game, however ADM was able to rally and erase a five-point deficit to tie and eventually take the lead.
Red Oak took the lead back, but ADM took it again and had a chance at 24-22 to win the third game and keep their state hopes alive.
“We had it in the back of our minds, but we knew we couldn’t let it happen again,” Snyder said about the third game.
A kill by Kate Walker kept Red Oak in the game, while Snyder tied the game 24-24 thanks to a serving ace. Snyder was 12-for-13 serving in the game.
“To fight back two straight set points to get that win in the third [game] was like wow,” Montgomery said.
Red Oak took the lead on a block and would go on to win game three 26-24. The Tigers wanted to avoid losing in the third game.
“Well, if we wanted to win in three, we got dirt cups, so we were all pretty pumped,” Blomstedt said, referring to a dessert snack of chocolate pudding, Oreos and gummy worms.
Game two was also close, but Red Oak jumped out to a six-point lead more than halfway through. ADM erased the deficit and nearly took the lead, however points late in the match gave Red Oak the 25-23 win.
Game one went back and forth between the two teams. The lead changed hands nine times in the first game. Kills by Walker and Mahoney, as well as blocks and aces, helped keep the Tigers in the match.
Red Oak won the first game 25-21.
Walker finished with a team high 13 kills. The sophomore also had 16 digs, three blocks and was 14-of-15 on her serves.
Blomstedt had seven kills and had five of the team’s 14 blocks. Blake
Bergren had three blocks, while Holmgren had two and Courtney Billings had one.
The Red Oak High School office started selling tickets to the first round of state volleyball Monday and will continue to do so until Wednesday at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $8.
A pep bus for students will also be available. The cost is $8 per student.
The bus departs at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Red Oak High School will host a pep rally at 2:46 p.m. Tuesday.
There will also be a send off for the team at Pizza Hut at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.