Metro Sports Report

Mustangs spike Clarke in upset victory

The Mount Mercy women's volleyball team finished the regular season in style Monday night.

The Mustangs upset Clarke, 25-21, 25-18, 19-25, 16-25, 15-6 in a Heart of America Conference match at the Hennessey Recreation Center.

Clarke arrived in town with the third-best record in the conference, but the Mustangs regrouped in the fifth set after seeing their 2-0 lead evaporate in the third and fourth sets.

Mount Mercy raised its records to 19-13 overall and 7-11 in the league. Clarke fell to 24-8 overall and 12-6 in the conference.

Mount Mercy will visit Evangel (17-16) in the first round of the Heart of America Conference tournament Wednesday night.

No. 9 Eagles claim regional title

FORT DODGE - The Kirkwood Eagles got sweet revenge against Iowa Central in the championship match of the regional volleyball tournament Sunday afternoon in Fort Dodge.

The ninth-ranked Eagles clipped the seventh-ranked Tritons in five sets to claim the regional title, lifting Kirkwood to within one victory of qualifying for the national tournament.

Coach Jill Williams and the Eagles will host a two-team district tournament on Sunday, Nov. 4, with the victor advancing to the NJCAA Division II national tournament in Charleston, W.Va., from Nov. 15-17.

Iowa Central, the No. 1 seed in the regional, trimmed the Eagles in five sets when they met in a conference affair in Fort Dodge on Oct. 10, with the Tritons winning the fifth and final set 19-17 in overtime.

This time, Kirkwood took control in the fifth set with a 15-8 verdict to win the regional title.

Iowa Central won the first set Sunday, 32-30, in overtime, but the Eagles never blinked and captured the next two sets, 25-17 and 25-23, to grab a 2-1 lead. Iowa Central tied the match with a 25-22 victory in the fourth set, but Kirkwood controlled the fifth set for the win.

Eagles earn spot in regional finals

FORT DODGE - The ninth-ranked Kirkwood Eagles will face seventh-ranked Iowa Central in the championship match of the NJCAA XI-A regional volleyball tournament Sunday in Fort Dodge.

The Eagles edged DMACC, 3-2, in the regional semifinals Saturday by winning the fifth set, 15-13. Iowa Central advanced with a 3-0 sweep of Southeastern in the semifinals.

The championship match between Kirkwood (30-8) and Iowa Central (28-9) is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

Kirkwood gained a measure of revenge against DMACC in the semifinals by winning 13-25, 25-16, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13. The Bears defeated Kirkwood in an ICCAC conference match, 3-1, on Aug. 29.

Kirkwood was seeded No. 5 in the regional tournament and DMACC was seeded No. 4, so the victory by Kirkwood was considered a mild upset.

Usher picks Louisville; Jackson to Illinois

Two more baseball players from Kirkwood Community College will be headed to NCAA Division I schools after they play for the Eagles in 2019.

Levi Usher, a Cedar Rapids Prairie grad who is currently a freshman at Kirkwood, has accepted an offer from the University of Louisville.

Taylor Jackson, who helped Kirkwood reach the NJCAA Division II World Series last season, plans to continue his college baseball career at the University of Illinois.

Usher, an outfielder, hit .468 with seven home runs, 34 RBIs and 37 stolen bases at Prairie as a junior in 2017. He hit .381 with two homers and 37 RBIs as a senior after recovering from a broken leg.