NOTE: This was supposed to be posted last week but didn't get done. The Independent apologizes for the omission from the blog.
Coach Tosha Landau and the Oskaloosa Bears entered their volleyball substate as the top seed for the third year in a row Oct. 24, but this time there would be no substate letdown as the Bears survived two three-game victories to win the 2A substate title on their home court and advance to this weekend’s state tournament in Hays.
The Bears cruised past eighth-seeded Wathena in the opening round, 25-11, 25-9, and faced county rival and fourth-seeded Valley Falls in the semifinals. The substate semifinals have been a thorn in the side of the Bears in recent years, as in each of the last two years the Bears have been the top seed in their 3A substates only to fall in that round. A drop in class to 2A and some home cooking, combined with a talented young team that includes only two seniors, must have done the trick, as the Bears fended off the Dragons, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20, to advance to the championship game against third-seeded Jackson Heights. The Valley Falls loss ended the Dragons’ season at 17-18.
More adversity awaited the Bears in the title match as the Cobras won the first game, 25-22, before Oskaloosa regrouped to win the second game, 25-17, and the third, 25-15, to celebrate what is believed to be the school’s first ever volleyball substate title with a 30-10 record. The last Oskaloosa team sport to make a state tournament appearance was the softball team in 1994.
Oskaloosa advanced to its first state volleyball tournament at Gross Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Fort Hays State University, as the seventh seed. Pool play started at 3:30 p.m. Friday as Oskaloosa was in a pool with second seed Lebo (35-4 record), third seed Uniontown (33-5) and sixth seed Moundridge (31-9). The other pool in the tournament included top seed Decatur Community from Oberlin (36-1), fourth seed Spearville (31-7), fifth seed Valley Heights (32-9) and eighth seed Sacred Heart (25-12).
The Bears' first ever trip to the state volleyball tournament ended in relatively short order Friday at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays as the Bears went 0-3 in pool play to finish the season 30-13. The Bears lost to Lebo, 25-22, 25-17, and went on to fall to Uniontown, 25-14, 25-20, and eventual state champion Moundridge, 25-23, 25-20, to finish out of the top two pool spots that advanced to Saturday’s finals. The Bears scored more points on Moundridge than either Valley Heights or Lebo would Saturday in the semifinals and state championship matches.
The Bears’ substate title makes it three consecutive seasons that a county team has advanced to state as the Jefferson County North Chargers had done it the past two seasons. The third-seeded Chargers ended sixth seed McLouth’s season in the quarterfinals of the 3A substate at Wellsville, 20-25, 28-26, 25-23, as the Bulldogs finished 22-16. JCN’s season ended, however, in the semifinals as second seed Osage City won in straight games, 25-7, 25-20, to finish the Chargers’ season at 30-10. In 4A action in Perry, the host and eighth seed Perry-Lecompton Kaws fell to top seed Hayden, 25-11, 25-12, to finish 14-24 on the season, and the fifth seed Jefferson West Tigers lost to fourth seed Wamego, 25-17, 25-20, in the opening round to finish the season 19-18.
