Home / Sports

DURANT, Iowa – The Durant-Bennett volleyball team punctuated a perfect regular season in the Cedar Valley Conference on Monday night with a 25-13, 25-21, 25-14 victory over rival Wilton.

Now, the Wildcats (25-4, 7-0 CVC) have their sights set on higher goals.

Starting Thursday, seventh-ranked Durant will begin its quest for a fifth consecutive CVC tournament title. After that, John Walsh’s club will try and work its way through regional play and advance to the Class 2A state tournament.

“I think we’re improving our game as we go along,” Durant senior Makenzie Meyer said. “We play up to our level of competition. As the teams get better, we’ll play better.”

Renee Telsrow, who fueled Durant’s offense with 13 kills, said the Wildcats are on the right progression trail with postseason action beginning in two weeks.

“We’re very pleased with where we’re at right now,” she said. “We’re working hard in practice and doing well in games. Our excitement on the court is very good.”

To help raise awareness for breast cancer, Monday’s match was dubbed as “Volley for a cure.” Durant wore light pink shirts and Wilton sported hot pink T-shirts. The teams also used a pink volleyball.

Durant controlled the match from the outset, soaring to a 14-6 advantage in the first game.

“I think we controlled the ball pretty well,” Walsh said. “We were able to run our offense pretty efficiently and things turned out well.”

Wilton (6-16, 0-7) regrouped in the second game. Thanks to the serving of senior Rachel Kirschbaum, who had a match-high six aces, the Beavers held a 14-11 lead.

Eventually, the game was tied at 21 before Durant capitalized on four consecutive Wilton attack errors to snare a 2-0 match lead.

“Overall, I thought we played hard,” Wilton coach Andrea Putman said. “Our communication could have been better. (Durant) is a tough, experienced team.

“I thought we made them work for about every point, and I commend our girls for how hard we played.”

Shelby Broders led the Beavers with seven kills, while Madison Maurer had 12 digs and Leah Duffe contributed eight.

“Our big thing is staying consistent the entire match,” Putman said. “We go through some really good spurts where we play some great volleyball, and then we let some runs get too far away from us and it kills our momentum and puts us in too big of a hole.”

Meyer’s serving ignited a 7-0 flurry for Durant early in the third game to put the match out of reach. Meyer, who was 28-for-28 serving with three service aces, compiled eight kills after registering 23 in the final two matches of the Northeast Goose Lake tournament on Saturday.

“She has been playing better the last few weeks,” said Walsh, whose team meets Wilton again on Thursday in the opening round of the CVC tournament. “It wasn’t that she was playing bad early in the season, but she’s stepped it up a little bit.

“It’s been a benefit to our offense. The more efficient hitters we can have at the net, the better we’re going to be.”

Durant 25-25-25

Wilton 13-21-14

Statistics

Kills – Wilton (Shelby Broders 7, Dakota LaMaack 4, Madison Maurer 4); Durant (Renee Telsrow 13, Makenzie Meyer 8, Shelby Paustian 3). Blocks – Wilton (not available); Durant (Meyer 2). Serving – Wilton (Rachel Kirschbaum 12-13, 6 aces; Avery Carter 7-10, 3 aces; Leah Duffe 8-8, ace; Carlee Grunder 5-7; Durant (Meyer 28-28, 3 aces; Paustian 12-15, 3 aces; Emily Andry 11-11). Assists – Wilton (Grunder 17); Durant (Allison Ralfs 22). Digs – Wilton (Maurer 12, Duffe 8, Kirschbaum 6, Carter 6); Durant (Paustian 8, Andry 7, Telsrow 5).

Records – Wilton 6-16 overall, 0-7 CVC; Durant 25-4, 7-0.

Next – Wilton at Durant, Thursday.