Glenwood volleyball state bound after win over ADM
With her team up 2-1 in sets and trailing 17-14 in set four, Glenwood coach Paula Carman called a timeout.
No, she didn’t gather her team for a quick huddle on the sideline. She took them out into the hallway.
Whatever Carman said, it worked.
The Rams rattled off three straight points to tie it up before going to win that fourth and final set 25-23 over a fiery ADM squad to punch their first ticket to the state volleyball since 2020.
So, what did Carman say to her team in that hallway timeout?
Turns out, not much.
“We were tired,” Carman said. “We were going so hard and so big in sets two and three. The girls did a great job scoring exactly the way we wanted to. So, we came out in set four and didn’t feel any pressure, per say, but as soon as we got into some volleys, you could tell the girls were just – their bodies – were just done.”
The Rams were clearly not done. But they did use the timeout to catch their breath and rest their tired legs just enough to outlast the Tigers 24-26, 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 to win the regional title for the third time in school history.
Class 4A, No. 7 ranked Glenwood (36-6) will play North Scott (29-4) at the Iowa State Volleyball Tournament on Monday at 6 p.m. in Cedar Rapids at the Xtream Arena.
Against ADM, the Rams came out struggling early to adjust to their big hitters, 6-foot-2 London Warmuth and 6-foot-1 Ella Subbert. They led 13-10 early but ADM took the lead at 17-16 and never relinquished it until Glenwood tied at 24-24. The Tigers scored the final two points of the opening set on kills by Warmuth and Elise Coghlan.
“We knew what the hitters were going to be,” Carman said of that first set. “I thought we had some good touches; I thought we did a couple of things defensively. We were really focused on a little bit more line action and they didn’t bring that early on. Our defense needed to adjust to that quicker than what we thought we would need in that first half.”
Glenwood did indeed adjust in sets two and three. Their defense, stellar all night, only made it harder for the Tigers to get shots down. The offense, led by Charley Hernandez and Kaylee Wray – both 5-foot-7 – on the outside, got plenty of looks and ADM had no answer. Hernandez had a match-high 21 kills while surpassing 1,000 career kills. Wray notched 16 kills.
Carman said when her offense is clicking like it was in sets two and three, they’re a tough team to play against.
“I think ADM might have been pretty confident in their height, pretty confident in what we don’t have for height,” Carman said. “I think a lot of teams overlook us in that sense. And we’ve played against some tough teams with height. Carlisle has to great outside hitters. We played tough against Pella. We’ve played tough against some of those teams that size didn’t matter. We just went out and played.
“Our girls have those shots; plus, our offense we have a variety of people that can hit but we have those people that can put the ball away.”
When Carman took the Glenwood job four years ago, the program was coming off back-to-back state tournament appearances. It’s been a building process to get back to state with a team that’s worked as hard as any she’s coached.
“Any time you have a freshman that is a (varsity) rotation player like Charlie and what she does every time she’s on the floor, and you get people to come up and play with her, then that’s what it’s all about. You’ve got a good nucleus there. And that’s what we have.
“We have athletes that wanted to match her and wanted to come out and play with her and get up to that ability and every day she wanted them to do that. I think that just shows the teamwork these girls have. They really do love each other. They’re all different, different girls, but they all really do love each other.”