The Best Is Here! Tigers Reach 3A Finals With Semifinal Win

Tipton's Kamryn Chapman (15) celebrates with teammates Laken Hermiston (12), Amanda Smith (6), Blake Ehler (13) and Karlee Kamberling after recording a kill during the Tigers 3-1 match win over No. 9 Mount Vernon in the Class 3A semifinals.  Photo by Ryan Stonebraker.

By Ryan Stonebraker

Tipton's Laken Hermiston, far right, receives a serve
from a Mount Vernon player during the Class 3A semifinals.
Photo by Ryan Stonebraker.

Sports Editor
  CEDAR RAPIDS — The Tipton volleyball team has had a saying this year. It is, “the best is yet to come”. The best is here for the Tigers, after winning a Class 3A semifinal match against No. 9 Mount Vernon 3-1. Set scores were 25-19, 23-25, 25-21 and 25-20. Mount Vernon was making their 10th trip to state in the past 11 years. Tipton has been to state each of the past two seasons.

  “We aren’t done. We’ve got one more match to win. Our goal always has been to win the whole thing. We finally have the opportunity to do something for the first time in school history,” said Tipton junior Sommer Daniel.

  Daniel and teammate Amanda Smith have given the Tigers a nice 1-2 punch and run the Tigers 6-2 offense. In the match with the Mustangs, the two combined for 39 kills, 48 assists and 25 digs.

  Tipton looked more like themselves in the match with the Mustangs, after having an interesting quarterfinal match against New Hampton.

  “We played a lot better. I felt our offense was there from the start. There was just a sense of calm among them, and that carried over to the floor,” Tipton coach Amy Calonder said.

  In the first set, Tipton was the first team to 10, 15 and 20 points. The Tigers started the match well after falling behind 1-0. Amanda Smith served seven straight points to give Tipton a 7-1 lead. The Mustangs had three hitting errors in the run. Later Laken Hermiston served Tipton to three points, two of which came from back-to-back double blocks from Blake Ehler and Kamryn Chapman. Add an Amanda Smith kill and Tipton led 14-6, their biggest lead in the set. A Mustang error set the score at 15-9 and a Daniel kill, set by Smith. Another Smith set leading to a Daniel kill gave Tipton their 20th point and a 20-14 lead. Mt. Vernon cut Tipton’s lead to four, 22-18, but Tipton closed the set out with a 25-19 win. A Daniel set and Jamie Kofron kills and a Daniel set leading to a Smith kill gave Tipton their final points of the set.

Tipton's Amanda Smith (6) blocks a Mount Vernon kill attempt during the
Tigers 3A Semifinal win.  Photo by Ryan Stonebraker.

  In the second set, Mount Vernon was the first team to 10 and 15 points, but Tipton rallied to get to the 20th point first. Mount Vernon led most of the set after Tipton took a 1-0 lead on a Mount Vernon error. A Kamryn Chapman kill tied the set at 18, a Hermiston ace gave Tipton a 19-18 lead and a Blake Ehler kill gave Tipton a 20-18 lead. Mount Vernon tied the set at 22 and led 24-22 before taking the set 25-23 to tie the match at 1-1.

  In the third set, a Madison O’Leary ace gave Tipton a 10-7 lead and a Mustang hitting error gave them a 15-10 lead in the set. Tipton led 20-13, tying their biggest lead in the set. A Smith set and Daniel kill gave Tipton the second set by a score of 25-21 and a 2 to 1 match lead.

  In the final set, Tipton used a 4-0 point run to take a 6-3 lead after trailing early. Back-to-back Ehler kills gave Tipton a 4-3 lead. A Mustang hitting error and a Chapman kill gave them a 6-3 lead. Tipton was the first to ten points, leading 10-5 and led 18-9 later in the set. A Daniel kill gave Tipton a 20-9 lead. Mt. Vernon made things interesting, outscoring Tipton 11-5 down the stretch, but the Tigers captured the set 25-20 and the match 3-1 to advance.

  Tipton had 56 kills in the match on 143 attacks. Sommer Daniel had 24 and Amanda Smith 11 to lead Tipton. Kamryn Chapman had 9, Blake Ehler 7 and Jamie Kofron 5. Smith led in assists with 24 and Daniel had 19. Karlee Kamerbling led four Tigers with double-digit dig totals with 17. Tipton served 89-for-97 in the match with five aces. Laken Hermiston was 23-for-24 with an ace serve and Smith was 19-for-21 with two ace serves to lead Tipton.

  Rory Light led Mount Vernon with 16 kills. Light was an All-State player in Class 3A last season. Natalie Welch added 9 kills and Camryn Ellyson had 5. Ella Brase had 25 assists and Jorie Randall had 16 digs. Light and Brase played on the Mustangs 2016 state team and were the only two players on the Mount Vernon roster with state experience.

  Tipton advanced to play top-ranked Carroll Kuemper in the Class 3A championship match. The Knights had to escape an Osage upset bid to beat the Green Devils in five sets, 3-2. No. 6 Osage led 2-1 in the best of three matches only to see the Knights win the final two sets to claim the match.

  Mount Vernon ends the season 28-16. The Mustangs were fourth in the WaMac East Division this

season and beat WaMac foes Benton and Solon to reach the Regional Final. There, they beat Des Moines Christian 3-1 at Benton Community High School. Tipton improves to 39-3 with the win and will play for the program’s first state title.

Tipton's Blake Ehler (13) serves during the Tigers 3-1 Class 3A semifinal win over Mount Vernon last week.  The win sent Tipton to the Class 3A Championship match.  Photo by Ryan Stonebraker.

Class 3A State Tournament Box Scores:
Thursday, November 8
At U.S. Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids
Site: US Cellular Center
Referees: Shawn Petersen, Stuart Dusenberry.
Line Judges: Greg Boekhoff, Troy DeJoode.

Class 3A Semifinals

Tipton 3, Mount Vernon 1
Tipton 25 23 25 25
Mt. Vernon 19 25 21 20

Tipton (39-3) Statistics:
Attacks (125-143 56 kills): Sommer Daniel 47-52 24 kills, Amanda Smith 29-34 11 kills, Blake Ehler 21-26 7 kills, Kamryn Chapman 17-18 9 kills, Jamie Kofron 10-12 5 kills, Laken Hermiston 1-1.
Assists (52): Amanda Smith 24, Sommer Daniel 19, Blake Ehler 4, Karlee Kamberling 3, Laken Hermiston 2.
Blocks (3): Blake Ehler 2, Kamryn Chapman 1.
Serving (89-for-97 5 aces): Laken Hermiston 23-for-24 1 ace, Amanda Smith 19-for-21 2 aces, Madison O’Leary 11-for-14 2 aces, Blake Ehler 13-for-14, Sommer Daniel 12-for-12, Jamie Kofron 11-for-12.
Digs (70): Karlee Kamberling 17, Amanda Smith 15, Blake Ehler 13, Laken Hermiston 11, Sommer Daniel 8, Kamryn Chapman 3, Madison O’Leary 2, Jamie Kofron 1.

Mount Vernon (36-6) Statistics:
Attacks (95-120 44 kills): Rory LIght 30-32 16 kills, Ella Brase 21-24 3 kills, Annie Rhomberg 18-22 3 kills, Natalie Welch 16-19 9 kills, Camryn Ellyson 16-18 5 kills, Madi Cranston 8-11 4 kills, Mazie Rubner 5-5 2 kills, Lauren Ryan 4-5 1 kills, Summer Brand 1-1 1 kill, Rachel Axtell 1-1, Jorie Randall 0-1.
Assists (42): Ella Brase 25, Summer Brand 16, Madi Cranston 1.
Blocks (6): Annie Rhomberg 3, Camryn Ellyson 2, Rory Light 1.
Digs (56): Jorie Randall 16, Ella Brase 7, Lauren Ryan 7, Sommer Brand 6, Rory Light 5, Rachel Axtell 5, Natalie Welch 4, Annie Rhomberg 3, Camryn Ellyson 2, Madi Cranston 1.