Members of the Class 1A No. 6 North Tama volleyball team, including head coach Channing Halstead (far right) and assistant coach Karisa Kladivo (far left), pictured Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Columbus Catholic Varsity Invitational in Waterloo, where they took home the tournament title. PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH TAMA SCHOOLS

WATERLOO – The Class 1A No. 6 North Tama volleyball team sailed to championship victory at the Columbus Catholic Varsity Invitational held at Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta Middle School in Waterloo on Saturday, Oct. 3. Thanks to a balanced offense and defense, the Redhawks defeated five teams, including ranked conference foe BCLUW, for the tournament title.

After a tournament-opening loss to Class 4A No. 7 Marion (17-21, 17-21), the Redhawks racked up four shutouts in succession to qualify for the championship match, including over Class 1A No. 14 Newman Catholic, Independence (21-18, 21-9), Don Bosco (25-12, 25-21), and BCLUW (25-20, 25-23).

North Tama took down Class 2A No. 10 Regina Catholic in the championship final, defeating the Regals (19-11) in two sets.

The Redhawk offense was led by sophomore outside hitter Alaney Sienknecht with a whopping 50 kills. Junior outside hitter Lily Sell contributed 44 kills and senior middle hitter Kahlia Even added 20. Junior setter Isabelle Gropper totaled 87 assists on the day; senior defensive specialist Grace Dvorak contributed 23.

Dvorak led the defense with 43 digs and a service ace. Gropper had 39 digs, two blocks, and eight aces. Sienknecht made 34 digs, a block, and a team-high nine aces. Senior defensive specialist Harper Rausch added 24 digs and seven aces. Freshman defensive specialist Kaeler Ewoldt had 22 digs.

North Tama moved to 20-13 (4-1) following the tournament. Sienknecht remained at No. 1 in Class 1A for kills with 336 – ahead of No. 2 Sydnee Burgess of Montezuma (286). She moved up three spots to No. 7 across all classes from the week prior.

In the Iowa Star-South Conference, Sienknecht and Sell were No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in kills, while Gropper was No. 1 in assists (546); Dvorak No. 1 in digs (305); and Dvorak and Ewoldt tied for the top spot in serve aces with 43 apiece.