—Submitted photo The Clarion-Goldfield/Dows volleyball team poses with their state qualifying banner.

WEBSTER CITY — Second-ranked Clarion-Goldfield/Dows will be making its third straight trip to the state volleyball tournament after surviving a scare against Des Moines Christian on Tuesday night.

The Cowgirls (26-2 overall) needed five sets to keep their streak alive, knocking off the Lions (24-14). DM Christian jumped out of the gate, winning the first set 25-20. The Cowgirls bounced back with two straight wins 25-22, and 25-16.

The Lions forced a deciding fifth set with a 25-20 win in Game 4. The Cowgirls closed out the contest with a 15-9 win.

“They were on in the first set,” said Clarion-Goldfield/Dows head coach Katrina TerHark. “We were playing a little timid to start. In the second set, we were down and I called a timeout. We seemed to turn things around after that and started to play our game.

“It must have been words of magic.”

C-G/D will face ninth-ranked Red Oak (30-4) on Monday night in a Class 3A quarterfinal. Action will begin at 8 p.m. inside the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.

With the score tied at 16-16 in the second set, the Cowgirls went on a 9-1 run to close out the Lions.

“Winning that second set was huge,” TerHark said. “We went on a 9-1 run to finish the set out. It was nice to us be able to do that against a caliber team like that. We have confidence. We didn’t want to go five, but we got stuck in a serve-receive with them and sometimes you can’t get out of that.

“It’s been a long time since we have gone four or five sets with a team. We knew going in it would be a hard fought match.”

Jadyn Jondle led the Cowgirls with 25 digs. Morgan Middleton had 31 kills, while Kendall Lienemann had 13.

Lexie Lane had four blocks and Alaina Friesleben had 46 assists and three blocks. As a team we served 98 percent with seven aces.

“The girls kept their composure and fought hard,” TerHark said. “DM Christian had some players out early because of COVID and have started to play together right before regionals. They served us tough and tried to keep us out of system. They are a scrappy team and did what they needed to do to put us back on our heals.

“I saw the determination in our players eyes. We came back and got back in our serving. Jadyn got us going from the back row and you could see the determination in her eyes. She was phenomenal with her digs.”