Metro Sports Report

Familiar foes face off in state semis

Familiarity breeds respect.

Don't think so?

Ask the coaches of the Kennedy and Iowa City West volleyball teams that will meet each other for the third straight year in the semifinals of the state volleyball tournament Friday at noon at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

West holds the upper hand against the Cougars. The Women of Troy ousted Kennedy from the semifinals in each of the last two seasons and also own a regular season win over the Cougars this year. West won the Class 4A state title last year.

"We like the Kennedy kids," said Iowa City West Coach Kathy Bresnahan, whose club brings a 37-6 record and No. 1 ranking into Friday's match. "I'd rather play somebody we know, where you respect the kids, respect the coaching staff.

"I love Allie Hutcheson and I've liked competing against her and Kennedy."

Hutcheson is Kennedy's key cog, a senior setter with a vicious left-handed smash on kills and height to block at the net. She plays on the Iowa Rockets club volleyball team that includes several players from West.

Kennedy mauls Mustangs; West is next

Kennedy gets the matchup it wanted Friday in the semifinals of the state volleyball tournament.

The seventh-ranked Cougars routed No. 4 Dubuque Hempstead in three sets Wednesday, 25-9, 25-21, 25-15, in the first round of the state volleyball tournament at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Kennedy (30-9) advances to play No. 1 Iowa City West (37-6) in Friday's semifinals at noon. Iowa City West beat Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln in three sets, 25-20, 25-15, 25-20, earlier Wednesday.

Iowa City West has knocked Kennedy out of the state tournament in the semifinals the last two years. The Women of Troy won the state title last year.

Ian Ford will swim at South Dakota

Cedar Rapids Washington senior Ian Ford participated in lots of sports when he was younger.

"I was kind of a multi-sport kid," he said Wednesday. "I played soccer, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, swimming."

This was on the East Coast, where he grew up.

"When I got around age 9, I knew swimming was really where my heart was," he said. "I begged my mom to put me on a year-round team, and from that point on it's been swimming ever since."

It paid off.

Ford signed a national letter-of-intent Wednesday to swim at the University of South Dakota once he finishes his all-state career with the Warriors.

C.R. Ice Arena all set for state volleyball

Don't worry about the girls slipping on the ice at the state volleyball tournament this week.

They've got it covered.

And don't worry about shivering like you might at a hockey game at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Event directors promise it will be nice and comfortable inside the building, despite all the ice.

The tournament begins Wednesday with the Class 4A quarterfinals at noon and 1:30 p.m., followed by the Class 3A quarterfinals at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.