(Council Bluffs, IA) The Mineral Area Lady Cardinals are headed to Hutchinson, Kansas after punching their ticket to the National Tournament for the fifth time in program history and first time since 2018. The Lady Cards used a pair of straight set wins over Kaskaskia and Iowa Western in the Midwest B District Tournament on Sunday to advance.
The District Championship Game featured 18 total ties. The Iowa Western Rievers were pursuing tie 19 of the match late in the third set after scoring two points to bring the deficit to 23-21. MAC shut the door with the next two scores to claim victory 25-23, 25-17, 25-21.
Mineral Area Head Coach, Tim Copeland, says it feels great to be headed to Hutch for the National Tournament.
The third set featured just three ties all within the first six points of the game, while the second set had just two ties at 1-1, and 2-2 before MAC used a 7-0 spurt to take a 9-2 lead.
The Lady Cardinals had to stifle a late attack from Iowa Western who trailed 22-10 before scoring six of the next seven, but MAC stopped the momentum.
Set one of the Championship Game was the closest set of all six MAC played Sunday. The set featured 13 total ties. Seven ties came within the first 24 points of the set, while the other six were near the end of the set from 18-18 through 23-23. All six lead changes were collected in the first set.
The Lady Birds trailed the Rievers by three early in the first set but swung the momentum with a five-point rally to take the lead 12-10. MAC wouldn’t lose the first set lead until Iowa Western attackers finished on back-to-back plays at points 19 and 20 to grab a one-point advantage. However, MAC quickly answered by ending the set, scoring three of the final four points.
Mineral Area reached the District Championship Game by beating the Kaskaskia Blue Angels in straight sets, 25-17, 25-13, 25-15 Sunday afternoon.
Coach Copeland adds it was a full team effort on Sunday.
Copeland says the season has that “storybook” feeling to it.
Mineral Area will begin their pursuit of a National Title November 15 in Hutchinson, Kansas. Seeds will be released Thursday, November 9.