Iowa state volleyball: Final four are set as Ankeny Christian, Riverside, Janesville, BCLUW comprise 1A semifinals

Two-time defending champion Ankeny Christian moves one step closer to a three-peat as Riverside, Janesville, BCLUW join them in 1A semis

Ankeny Christian earned a spot in the Class 1A state volleyball semifinals with a win Tuesday in Coralville. They are the two-time defending state champions. / Joseph Cress / USA TODAY NETWORK

The final quarterfinal round action of the Iowa state volleyball championships brought with it three sweeps and a five-setter, but the final results were definitely interesting. 

Comprising the final four in Class 1A will be Ankeny Christian, Riverside, Janesville and BCLUW. Both Janesville and BCLUW were the lower-seeded team, pulling upsets on No. 2 Saint Ansgar and No. 3 Holy Trinity. 

Ankeny Christian, the two-time defending champs, had no trouble with Don Bosco, winning 25-18, 25-18 and 25-22. Carley Craighead had a match-high 14 kills with five digs, a serving ace and a solo block, as Anna Weathers added 11 kills and both Katie Quick and Macey Nehring had seven. 

Quick also delivered 34 assists and Nehring had 11 digs. For Don Bosco, Kennedi McGarvey had nine kills.

Riverside and North Tama battled point-for-point and set-for-set in the final match of the day, with Riverside pulling out the five-setter by scores of 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16 and 15-11. 

Sophia Taylor had 17 kills, Bentley Rone added 13 and Elly Henderson 12 for Riverside, who recorded seven serving aces. For North Tama, Kruiz Ewoldt had a match-high 26 kills with 21 digs.

Janesville, the No. 7 seed, knocked off second-seeded Saint Ansgar in three close sets, 25-23, 27-25 and 25-22. Zoey Barnes had 17 kills, Dani Hughes added 10 and Hayden Anderson nine for the Wildcats.

Tayah Pollock had 40 assists and 11 digs, Liz Hovenga added 20 digs with an ace and Addy Oldenburger chipped in eight kills. For Saint Ansgar, both Jacey Johnston and Ava Falk had 10 kills.

Awaiting Janesville will be BCLUW, who also scored an upset by toppling No. 3 Holy Trinity, 25-22, 25-16 and 25-19. Grace Farnsworth had 15 kills and 17 digs, Olivia Peters added 13 kills and nine digs, and Virigian Kaisand added seven kills. 

Holy Trinity was paced by Adalyn Kruse and Presley Myers, who both had 10 kills.

Ankeny Christian (38-5) and Riverside (39-3) will square off at 6 p.m. on Wednesday while Janesville (25-17) and BCLUW (32-10) begin at 6:25 p.m. The winners meet in the final game of the tournament for the 1A title on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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