Wildcats Advance To Second Round

Durant's Ruby Kappeler passes the ball to a teammate during the Wildcats match with Tipton in the quarterfinals of the River Valley Conference tournament earlier this month.  The Wildcats beat Calamus-Wheatland in the first round of the 2A Regional tournament last week.  Contributed Photo.

By Ryan Stonebraker

Sports Editor

WHEATLAND — The Durant volleyball team took to the road to begin 2016 postseason play last Tuesday.  The Wildcats met the Calamus-Wheatland Warriors on their home court and, came away with a big 3-1 victory.  The Warriors bow out of the season with a 21-11 record. The Warriors began the season winners of 12-of-13 of their first matches of the year including ten straight.  The Wildcats improve to 13-16 and will play rival Wilton in the next round.

Durant won the first set, 25-6, but Cal-Wheat tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 second set win.  Durant took a 2-1 lead with a 25-17 third set win and claimed the match after a 25-22 fourth set win.

Durant had 30 kills in the match.  Aubrin Dittmer had 17 and Kamryn Meyer 13 to lead Durant.  Annie Taylor added 7 and Mallory Warner had 6.  Ruby Kappeler had 44 of the 48 assists and Cathy Ralfs had 38 digs, leading three Wildcats with double digit totals.  Durant had 14 blocks in the match from five players.  Dittmer and Taylor each had 4 and Warner had 3.  Meyer had a monster night serving, converting 30-of-31 attempts with 4 aces.  Kappeler had a great night serving too, with 8 aces and serving 17-for-18 in the match.

The Warriors were led in attacks by a pair of seniors, Katie Banowetz and Morgan Vander Heiden.  Vander Heiden had 17 kills and Banowetz had 12.  Banowetz was the third highest total in the Tri-Rivers East Division and Vander Heiden was fourth highest.

Sarah Garland, the second best assist total in the Tri-Rivers South this season, had 30 assists in the match.  Calamus-Wheatland matched Durant’s blocking with 13 of their own.  Vander Heiden had 4 as did Hannah Garland to lead five different Warriors with blocks.  Banowetz led Cal-Wheat in serving in the match, going 18-for-19 with an ace serve.  Banowetz led the Tri-Rivers East in serving including ace serves.

The Wildcats and Beavers have played in the postseason in two of the last three seasons.  Durant beat Wilton last year 3-1 and won a 3-0 match in 2014.

Durant 3, Calamus-Wheatland 1

Tuesday, October 18

At Wheatland

Durant 25 23 25 25

Cal-Wheat 6 25 17 22

Durant Statistics:

Attacks (79-93 30 kills): Kamryn Meyer 36-44 13 kills, Aubrin Dittmer 34-38 16 kills, Ruby Kappeler 9-11 1 kill.  Assists (44): Ruby Kappeler 42, Cathy Ralfs 2.  Blocks (14): Aubrin Dittmer 5, Mallory Warner 3, Annie Taylor 3, Kamryn Meyer 2, Emilee Voss 1.  Serving (94-for-97 18 kills): Kamryn Meyer 30-for-31 4 aces, Ruby Kappeler 18-for-18 8 aces, Cathy Ralfs 17-for-18 3 aces, Sierra Gregoire 13-for-13 2 aces, Hannah Happ 10-for-10 1 ace, Mallory Warner 4-for-5, Amanda Wiese 2-for-2.  Digs (90): Cathy Ralfs 35, Sierra Gregoire 16, Ruby Kappeler 11, Kamryn Meyer 9, Hannah Happ 9, Emilee Voss 5, Aubrin Dittmer 2, Mallory Warner 2, Annie Taylor 1.

Calamus-Wheatland Statistics:

Attacks (136-151 38 kills): Morgan Vander Heiden 45-51 17 kills, Katie Banowetz 31-36 12 kills, Hannah Garland 20-20 5 kills, Sarah Garland 15-15 3 kills, Hannah Hamann 13-15 1 kill, Alexis Schwien 12-14.  Assists (34): Sarah Garland 30, Morgan Vander Heiden 2, Katie Banowetz 1, Hannah Hamann 1.  Blocks (13): Morgan Vander Heiden 4, Hannah Garland 4, Alexis Schwien 2, Sarah Garland 2, Hannah Hamann 1.  Serving (70-for-72 1 ace): Katie Banowetz 18-for-19 1 ace, Morgan Vander Heiden 12-for-12, Sarah Garland 12-for-12, Hannah Garland 12-for-12, Hannah Hamann 9-for-10, Jenna Diercks 7-for-7.  Digs (59): Jenna Diercks 16, Morgan Vander Heiden 14, Katie Banowetz 13, Sarah Garland 9, Sammie Flagel 3, Hannah Garland 2, Hannah Hamann 2.