Metro Sports Report

Walker helps No.9 Eagles whip NIACC

Erin Walker does a little bit of everything for the Kirkwood Community College volleyball team. And she does it well.

Walker leads the ninth-ranked Eagles in aces, ranks second in kills and is tied for second in digs. Her versatility is one of the reasons Kirkwood has rolled to a 28-6 record this season and has a shot at making the national tournament again.

"She's explosive. And she's got speed," Kirkwood Coach Jill Williams said Wednesday night. "I like her ability to move wherever she's at on the court and then turn it into the next play."

Walker collected nine kills and eight digs Wednesday as the Eagles made quick work of NIACC, 25-10, 25-18, 25-14, in a 55-minute match at Johnson Hall on Kirkwood's Cedar Rapids campus.

Walker, a sophomore from Silvis, Ill., is not tall for an outside hitter at 5-foot-8, but she has excellent jumping ability and good timing.

The top of the volleyball net at center court is 7 feet, 4 1/8 inches off the ground. When Walker jumps and extends her arms, she's more than 2 feet higher than that when she slams the ball.

RoughRiders will be road warriors

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders have played only three full games since the USHL season began three weeks ago, but that will change this week when they play a pair of road games far from home.

The RoughRiders face the Fargo Force in Fargo, N.D., Thursday night, then meet the Tri-City Storm in Kearney, Neb., Saturday night.

It's 514 miles from Cedar Rapids to Fargo, another 539 miles from Fargo to Kearney, then another 441 miles from Kearney back home. That's a total of 1,494 miles and considerable time on a bus.

"I figure it's 26 hours," RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said before leaving town.

Actually, Carlson welcomes the journey. He thinks spending all that time together will be good for team chemistry, which he thinks is strong already.

"Oh yeah, we love being on the road," he said. "It's one of the good things about hockey.

Little Woolfolk could be big for Eagles

Danielle Woolfolk thought she had made the right college decision.

Following a sterling prep career at Homewood-Flossmoor in Chicago, the cat-quick 5-foot-3 point guard signed on May 1, 2012, to play at Eastern Illinois University.

The Panthers were coached by Brady Sallee, coming off a 22-9 season. Ten days later, Woolfolk’s basketball world was turned upside down.

Sallee left Eastern Illinois to become the head coach at Ball State and was replaced by assistant Lee Buchanan.

“That changed everything,” Woolfolk said Sunday. “The coach that signed me left and the program wasn’t a good fit for me anymore. I just needed a new start.”

Sports opened doors for Krista Johnson

It's long been a tradition at the all-day Westside Volleyball tournament at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School for each of the 20-some teams to set up camp on the floor throughout the hallways.

Trophy cases line both sides of the hall outside the old east gym. And it was by sheer coincidence Saturday that the Cedar Rapids Xavier girls spread blankets and stacked supplies right under a display honoring the 1996 J-Hawk volleyball squad.

Behind the glass is a big trophy the team earned by finishing runner-up to powerful Dubuque Wahlert in the state tournament and a large color photo of the smiling players.

Standing tall above the rest in the back row of the picture is Krista Johnson, a star junior outside hitter and now the first-year coach of the Class 4A fourth-ranked Xavier Saints.

The meet on Saturday was a homecoming of sorts for the 33-year-old Johnson, her first time coaching a team from a rival school on the very floor where she started her career.