Metro Sports Report

14 Metro athletes signing with colleges

The national signing day is always filled with excitement and perhaps a little trepidation as high school seniors put their name on the dotted line with the college of their choice.

It's exciting because it marks the beginning of a new chapter in their lives, but it's also a little frightening at times because of the great unknown that awaits them.

Only four-year colleges that offer athletic scholarships require a national letter-of-intent, so the fall signing period that began Wednesday does not include the dozens of Metro student-athletes who will attend NCAA Division III colleges in the Iowa Conference and elsewhere. The fall signing period also does not include football players, who can sign their letters in February.

Saints face big obstacle in No. 1 Pella

The Xavier Saints were quickly made the early favorite to win the Class 3A football title this season after they dropped from Class 4A following the 2013 campaign.

The Saints (9-3) still have an excellent shot of winning the championship as they head into the semifinals against top-ranked Pella (12-0) Thursday night at 8:21 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, but they are no longer the prohibitive favorite.

Creston (10-2) faces No. 3 Sioux City Heelan (11-1) in the other semifinal Thursday at 5:36 p.m.

There have been several twists and turns for the Saints on their way to the UNI-Dome. They lost their season opener to Dowling in a rematch of the Class 4A finals from last year, which was no big surprise. Dowling has reached the Class 4A semifinals again this year and has a powerful team.

Phillips sparks Marion at state tourney

Abby Phillips was hit flush in the face by a vicious kill in the Class 4A state volleyball tournament Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Center and simply wiped the sting off her kisser and smiled.

After all she's been through the past month, a little slap in the face was nothing.

Phillips returned to the court after missing four weeks with a broken hand Tuesday and helped the Marion Indians survive Charles City, 27-25, 28-30, 25-21, 25-20, in a seesaw match in the quarterfinals of the state meet in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Broken hand? Slap in the face? A little pain? Phillips just shrugged it off.

"Yeah, she's pretty tough," said Marion Coach Roxanne Paulsen, who was delighted to have the 5-foot-7 libero back in action for the biggest match of the season. "She's a competitor."

It took a supreme team effort by all the Indians (34-7) to earn a date in the semifinals against West Delaware (44-2) Thursday at noon in a battle of Wamac Conference powers, but there's no doubt having Phillips in the lineup was a big boost for Marion.

Balanced Eagles roll to 5-0 start

The Kirkwood Eagles need to learn how to play good basketball with a 30-point lead.

That may sound strange, but Coach Bryan Petersen does not want his club to develop any bad habits when things are going so well.

Kirkwood zoomed to a 31-point lead at halftime Tuesday night and coasted to a 90-58 victory over Black Hawk Community College in a non-conference game at Johnson Hall.

Kareem Martin Jr. led five players into double figures with 15 points as the Eagles raised their record to 5-0. Matt Lassen helped Kirkwood get off to a fast start and finished with 14 points.

Jordan Ashton and Joe Tagarelli scored 13 points apiece and Chike Ukah had 10. Ajay Lawton and Hunter Rhodes both finished with eight points and nine assists, nearly reaching a double-double.

"Good win. Home opener. It was fun," said Petersen. "Nice crowd. I was very pleased with that. A good student section. It was nice to see some people out there watching us."