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DURANT, Iowa – Even though it was the eighth seed in the Cedar Valley Conference tournament, Wilton’s volleyball team wasn’t about to go quietly.

The Beavers made a match of it with top-seeded and No. 8 Durant-Bennett, but the Wildcats eventually prevailed in four games.

“I like the way we’re playing right now,” said Wilton coach Andrea Putman, whose team slips into the consolation bracket. “I think we can surprise some people (in this tournament). We’re coming together at a good time.”

Durant advances to play the winner of the West Liberty-Tipton match on Monday night at home after the 25-16, 23-25, 25-23, 25-18 triumph over the Beavers.

Actually, Wilton had a five-point lead on Durant on three different occasions in the third game, the last coming at 20-15, but Durant kept chipping away with two kills by Shelby Paustian and Makenzie Meyer. An ace serve by Meyer tied the score at 22, forcing Putman to call timeout.

Renee Telsrow put down a kill and Wilton was called for four hits to give the Wildcats game point, but the Beavers’ Shelby Broders had a kill off the Durant block to bring Wilton to 24-23, forcing Durant coach John Walsh to call timeout.

“We need to be the aggressor,” Walsh said. “If we are playing defense, we are allowing other teams to control the game. We need to be aggressive and make other teams make mistakes. We got away from that in the second and third games.”

A lot of Wilton’s offense came from Broders, who had seven of her 11 kills and five stuff blocks in the second and third games in which the Beavers threatened.

“She was (playing well),” Putman said. “The passing was there, the hustle was there. This was the best team volleyball I’ve seen us play all season long.

“The girls came out focused (in the second and third games). They were hustling and believing in themselves. Everyone did their roles well.”

But after that third game, Durant never trailed in the fourth game. On more than one occasion, Paustian passed the ball to setter Allison Ralfs, who set up Paustian for the kill from the back row.

“We work on out-of-system plays,” said Ralfs, who had 42 assists for Durant. “We work on setting it to the pin and going.”

Ralfs had an outstanding night for the Wildcats. In addition to her 42 assists, Ralfs had 11 digs, two blocks, a kill and was perfect in 17 serves with two aces.

“We got a little sloppy with our play and lost momentum,” Ralfs said. “But I had some better sets and better kills and we got our momentum back and we played better.”

Three Durant players were in double-digit kills for the match, led by Telrow’s 15. Paustian and Meyer each tallied 11.

“They (Wilton) started putting things together – they’ve got a lot of good players,” Walsh said. “They got on a roll and we had a hard time dealing with it.

“Anyway, at the end of the night, we did what we needed to do.”

Durant 25-23-25-25

Wilton 16-25-23-18

Statistics

Kills – Wilton (Shelby Broders 11, Avery Carter 5, Madison Maurer 3, Rachel Kirschbaum 3, Carlee Grunder 1); Durant (Renee Telsrow 15, Shelby Paustian 11, Makenzie Meyer 11, Emily Andry 1, Alison Ralfs 1, Mackenzie Compton 1, Sammy Meier 1). Blocks – Wilton (Broders 5, Maurer 1, Grunder 1); Durant (Telsrow 1, Stevie Lorenz 2, Ralfs 2, Paustian 1, Meier 1, Meyer 1). Assists – Wilton (Grunder 19, Kirschbaum 1, Broders 1); Durant (Ralfs 42); Digs – Wilton (Leah Duffe 11, Kirschbaum 14, Carter 16, Maurer 8, Broders 6, Grunder 12); Durant (Paustian 16, Ralfs 11, Andry 14, Compton 7, Meyer 6, Telsrow 15); Serving – Wilton (Broders 13-14, 4 aces; Kirschbaum 15-16, 2 aces; Carter 12-14; Duffe 17-18, Grunder 10-11; Maurer 7-9); Durant (Ralfs 17-17, 2 aces; Paustian 11-15, 4 aces; Telsrow 17-18, 2 aces; Compton 14-18, ace; Meyer 16-17, 4 aces).

Records – Wilton 7-17 overall; Durant 26-4.

Next – Wilton vs. West Liberty-Tipton loser, Monday; Durant vs. West Liberty-Tipton winner, Monday.